IDF officer suspected of arms dealing to clear debts
After accumulating debts by gambling, sinking lower by borrowing in gray market, police arrests Antiaircraft Corps captain for trafficking
Cleared for publication: A 24-year-old Israel Defense Forces officer ranked captain is suspected of stealing weapons from IDF army bases and selling them to outlaws. His interrogation by the police over the past month revealed the suspicion that the officer had stolen an M-16 rifle, a LAW missile and other weapons from IDF bases due to his accumulated gambling debts.
The officer was brought before the military court Tuesday for detention of remand, which prolonged his detainment by eight days. “This is a serious affair involving and IDF officer who saw stealing army weapons as a solution to eliminating his debts,” a police official told Ynet.
The affair was exposed on the Memorial Day for the IDF fallen, when word got out that an arms deal was being carried out between Jews from Tiberias and Arabs from the Galilee.
According to suspicions, two Tiberias residents contacted a Nahaf village resident and three other residents from the Dir al-Assad village, meeting with them in Tiberias and selling them an M-16 for NIS 27,000 (about $8200).
The four buyers were arrested near Tiberias after the deal had been made. A quick inspection revealed that the weapon was stolen shortly before that by a reserves officer on duty at the Karmei-Tzur IDF base near Gush Etzion.
Tal Toledano, one of the two Jews from Tiberias who sold the weapon, was arrested while his friend remains in hiding. “We are certain that publishing the article will make him comply and turn himself in,” said the police official.
The investigation exposed that the connection between Toledano and the IDF officer serving as captain in the Antiaircraft Corps who is also from Tiberias developed over the past few weeks. The police decided to involve the Military Investigating Police in the investigation, which arrested and the officer Monday during military training in the south.
The officer confessed to stealing, saying he had been gambling from a young age had become entangled in heavy debts of hundreds of thousands of shekels. He tried to clear his debts by borrowing money in the gray market, which further complicated matters.
“The criminals took advantage of his combat military position and his easy access to weapons, promising to clear his debts,” the police said.
As it turns out, the trading of the M-16 rifle which led to the officer’s arrest is only the tip of the iceberg; it turns out that two months ago, the suspect stole a LAW Missile from a northern army base and sold it to Toledano for NIS 5,000 ($1526).
On another occasion, he dismantled an M-16 also stolen from the northern base and sold it to Toledano for NIS 7,000 ($2137).
