An Israeli couple was arrested for spying for Iran, the police and Shin Bet announced on Tuesday in a joint statement. The arrests came after three other suspected spies were taken into custody
The residents of Ra'anana in their 30s were arrested on Monday and will appear in court, where the police will ask that they be remanded to custody.
A covert investigation by the police and Shin Bet began last week, a statement read. "On Monday, investigators arrived at the couple's apartment and in their search of the premises confiscated a number of mobile phones, computers and other technological equipment and found communication suspected to be with the couple's handlers."
A lawyer for the couple denied the allegations and said his clients were not involved in espionage.
The police and Shin Bet revealed on Monday that three other Israelis were also in custody on suspicion that they worked in the service of Iran in two separate cases. In one, a 33-year-old resident of the Jordan valley allegedly carried out missions on behalf of the Iranians, including arriving at a destination where a hand grenade was hidden and told to move it to a different spot. According to the police, he fully understood that he was delivering a weapon that could harm civilians. He was also suspected of filming the interception of an Iranian missile fired at Israel during the 12-day fighting between Israel and Iran.
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The second case involved two residents of Tiberias, ages 18 and 20, who, according to suspicions, were asked to murder an Israeli, in exchange for payment of hundreds of thousands of shekels.
Arrest of suspected spies
(Video: Israel Police)
They were instructed to travel to a foreign country where they would receive training and then be told of their target. They were arrested before they were able to leave the country.
The suspects also filmed shopping centers and informed their handlers of the security arrangements there, the number of shops in the center and its layout. The two filmed the shopping centers in Haifa and Tiberias and in Tel Aviv they filmed the city's Dizengoff Shopping Mall and a shopping center attached to the Sourasky Medical Center
First published: 09:54, 07.01.25