Crowd dispersal weapons seized in Ashdod

Over 14,000 crowd dispersal weapons seized in freight from China also containing clothes, jewelry; Police suspect Hebron importer meant to sell items to Palestinian Authority

Yoav Zitun|Published: 10.24.13 , 20:35

The Israeli Tax Authority announced Thursday that freight going through Ashdod customs and claiming to contain clothes, jewelry and accessories also contained over 14,000 weapons and other banned items.

No firearms or equipment usually used for terror was found in the container, imported by a 27-year-old Palestinian from Hebron, but large scale crowd dispersal means such as pepper spray and iron bats were hidden.

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From the joint investigation of the police and the Tax Authority, the suspicion is that the importer intended to sell weapons to Palestinian Authority security sources in the West Bank, since terror activists do not use such equipment. According to law, the Palestinian Authority's security forces are obligated to receive crowd dispersal means only from the State.

The smuggled weapons (Photo: Tax Authority Spokesperson)

The Tax Authority's profiling system tagged the container as suspicious, and a brief security check led to the container being opened and seized.

Hidden amongst clothing items were 4,000 tasers; 1,000 iron bars; 3,200 pepper spray canisters and 2,000 slings. The freight also contained 400 laser pointers and 3,500 fake watches.

The Palestinian importer and his family are known to police, mainly over felonies such as smuggling goods and plagiarism. According to the tax authority, the market worth of the weapons the importer tried to smuggle from China is about NIS1.5 Million. "The tax deducted is therefore NIS200,000," said a Tax Authority source.