Talaalqa. Trained in Gaza Photo courtesy of Shin Bet
Cleared for publication: Would-be terrorist nabbed
Shin Bet, police operation ends with arrest of a 25-year-old Gazan who infiltrated Israel through Sinai desert with intent of establishing terror network, carrying out attacks inside country
The Beersheba Magistrate's Court on Sunday indicted a Gaza Strip resident suspected of infiltrating Israel
from Egypt
in order to set up an infrastructure for terror attacks.
The man, Abd al-Rahman Talaalqa, 25, was detained last month. His arrest was cleared for publication on Sunday.
Smuggling Weapons
Palestinian jailed for trying to smuggle military equipment / Aviad Glickman
Hebron resident sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after being convicted of planning to illegally import telescopic rifle lenses, M-16 assault rifle magazines and wiretapping devices designated for Gaza
Talaalqa was arrested in a joint Shin Bet-police operation after infiltrating Israel from Sinai. He provided his investigators with details on the many military training sessions he received from his operators at the Popular Resistance Committees organization in southern Gaza.
Chief Warrant Officer Motti Asor of the Southern District Police told Ynet that after the culprit entered Egypt from the Strip, he infiltrated Israel and walked to Road 40.
"At the Negev Junction he got on a bus, and at the same time we received information that the man on the bus is suspected of terrorist activity. A Dimona station patrol unit arrested him and took him in for questioning, where he said that he had been a member of Hamas since 1999 and was recruited for terror activity in 2006, when he began undergoing military training in the Strip in order to carry out an attack within Israeli territory."
He added that his senders had trained him to operate different arms, produce weapons using chemical substances and to prepare car bombs and explosive belts. He was also trained to use GPS machines, read maps and collect intelligence.
Talaalqa said he was also asked to carry out terror attacks, including kidnapping a soldier which would be used as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Israel. He was ordered to collect intelligence on Israel Defense Forces bases, police facilities and places where soldiers and citizens gather.
Talaalqa was also planning on training terrorists to carry out suicide bombings.
Planned to kidnap, murder soldier
According to Chief Warrant Officer Asor, after entering Israel Talaalqa was planning to launch activities ahead of kidnapping and murdering a soldier. He was meant to bury the body in a pre-accepted place in order to launch negotiations and reveal the soldier's burial site to Israel.
Another plan was to purchase an identity card and vehicle and carry out a terror attack in a crowded place, like a military base or police station. The culprit was also meant to contact other terror cells in Israel.
Defense establishment officials say that terror activists' attempts to leave the Gaza Strip and enter Israel through Sinai are familiar and considered a complicated challenge.
"Alongside extensive criminal activity, the Sinai region has turned in the past few years into pasture land for the terror activists in the attempts to carry out attacks," explained one source. "Strenuous activity is taking place in order to thwart this."
It should be noted that despite the weak spots on the Israel-Egypt border, a decision has yet to be made on setting up an obstacle, making it difficult for the IDF to foil such activities, including the smuggling of weapons.
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