Large quantities of explosives and weapons of various kinds, including expensive equipment stolen from the IDF, were found Sunday by Border Guard officers and police searching a shack in Beit Jan, in the upper Galilee.
The search in the shack, which serves as a storage room for one of the homes in the town, was conducted following intelligence received by security forces. Searches in two other structures also revealed weapons, Karmiel Police said.
Altogether four kilograms of explosives, 20 launcher grenades, 10 hand grenades, two 40 mm teargas shells, and 17,000 rifle bullets of various sizes were confiscated from the cache. Military equipment such as a xenon spotlight used by army choppers and various articles of uniform were also found.
Police said three suspects were arrested following the findings: A 21-year old suspected of stealing the items from the IDF, and two others of the same age suspected of assisting him. Two residents of the town were detained for questioning.
Police said the reasons behind the theft were criminal and probably not security-related. Two months ago a store of stolen weapons was found in the same town.
Galilee District Police stressed that a large number of arrests related to weapons theft have been carried out over the past year by the Karmiel station. Around 1,400 illegal weapons have been confiscated in the past year.