Israel Police on Monday thwarted an unusual arms smuggling attempt across its border with Lebanon – 100 hand grenades that it is suspected were intended for use in terror attacks.
According to the spokeswoman of the Israeli police’s Northern District Unit, authorities are investigating the involvement of Hezbollah, Lebanon’s Iran-backed terror group.
The spokeswoman announced that members of Israel’s army identified “a movement near the Lebanese border fence” on Monday evening.
In recent thwarted smuggling incidents at Israel’s northern border with Lebanon, evidence was found of Hezbollah's involvement in working through Israelis to bring weapons into the Jewish state.
Two months prior, Israel’s domestic security agency Shin Bet arrested two Israeli citizens for their alleged involvement with Hezbollah in smuggling drugs and arms.
Israel Police said that such activities are efforts to create a terror infrastructure in Israel.
“The fact that [hand grenades] have been seized, an unusual weapon… raises the suspicion that they were intended to carry out attacks against crowded civilian places,” the spokeswoman said.
According to the Israeli police, since the beginning of 2022, the Northern District Unit seized 148 pistols, 23 assault rifles, and drugs worth hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars.
The latest smuggling incident came days after Israel’s military foiled an attempt to bring $1.22 million worth of drugs across its southern border with Egypt.
