The police on Monday have uncovered hundreds of weapons hidden underground in a raid in the Bedouin town of Laqiya in the Negev.
Among the arms that were found buried under a home in the town was a pistol that was reported to have been stolen 15 years ago. A 45-year-old woman who is living there was arrested.
Border Police Superintendent Shahaf Aharon told Ynet that officers found the arms cache thanks to intelligence they received. He confirmed that the police dug up gunstocks, barrels, and a pistol that was stolen in 2005.
"This is actually part of our routine activity that we carry out on a daily basis in the framework of the violent conflicts in the area," Aharon said. "This is one of the most significant seizures in the area."
It was not immediately clear whether the weaponry was intended for terror or criminal purposes, however, some of it would have most probably ended up in the hands of terrorist elements due to wide overlapping between the two.
Since last May's Gaza war and inter-communal riots in Israel, the police have called upon residents of the Negev to aid them in their efforts to confiscate illegal weaponry within the Bedouin population. A common phenomenon amongst this population is posting videos boasting their illegal firearms on TikTok.
Locals' calls for police raids on illegal arms have become intensified following the recent terror attack in Be'er Sheva, in which an ISIS-affiliated Bedouin Israeli killed four people.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed the issue during a visit to the Bedouin city of Rahat last December.
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Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked, Justice Minister Gideon Sa'ar (first and second from left), Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai and Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (first and second from right) inspect an arms cache uncovered in the Bedouin city of Rahat last year
(Photo: Noam Rivkin Penton)
"I heard your cries for help," he said. "From the day the government was established, we set tackling the raging violence in the Arab sector as a national goal. It's not just words. We're talking about human lives. The personal safety of the south's residents that has been lost.
"We've got militias that act as if they're in the Wild West, and the message to people of the south is that we won't relent. The law in Rahat is the same as in Be'er Sheva and the same as in Tel Aviv."