Ten cellular telephones including some belonging to senior commanders of the Israel Navy’s Shayetet 13 commando unit were stolen while the officers were attending a classified briefing. In line with protocol, cell phones are not permitted in classified briefings to prevent recording or eavesdropping on conversations. When the officers exited the meeting held on the Shayetet Base in Atlit, they discovered someone had made off with their phones.

According to the Ynet report, military police are involved due to fears that the phones, which may contain classified information and numbers, may have fallen into the hands of unauthorized persons. Police believe the theft was just that, a criminal act towards profiting on reselling the phones. However police are not ruling out the possibility that the person responsible was actually after classified information.

One military police official told Ynet “It is amazing that this occurred on one of the most secure IDF bases in Israel, home to one of the most elite clandestine units in the military”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)