(VIDEO IN EXTENDED ARTICLE)

Israel Police uncovered a network for smuggling cell phones to terrorists in prisons through employees of a company to supply canteen products to prisoners. The exposure of the network is another move by the Israel Police to thwart the arrival of communications devices to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and to make it difficult to attempt to direct terror out of the prisons.

In an investigation conducted by a central unit of the Israel Police in cooperation with the Israel Prisons Service (IPS), an organized network was discovered to smuggle cell phones to security prisoners in Israeli jails. Among the detainees is a resident of the territories and Israeli citizens who work as a marketing company supplying the canteen products to prisoners in the prisons.

The secret interrogation was opened at the end of last August, after a search by IPS officers of canteen products that arrived at Ofer Prison containing crates of snacks and other consumer goods. They apprehended five cellular telephones and a large number of SIM cards in the shipment.

The examination revealed that the canteen was intended for so-called “security prisoners” held in Ofer Prison.

A number of days later, a case of drink sent to security prisoners in Rimon Prison was checked and six additional phones were discovered. These phones were extremely small, the size of a finger.

In the course of the investigation, the Israel Police investigators uncovered a systematic organization in which the company was infiltrated with workers who did the smuggling, which were transferred from the company’s warehouses in the Shvelah area to prisons throughout the country.

There was also a suspicion that although the destination of the canteen was marked with code only, the members of the chain knew where each shipment was intended and accordingly inserted cellular devices into the drinking boxes.

According to one of the testimonies, the company employees received sums of money of thousands of shekels on each smuggled device, ranging from a few thousand for a tiny cellular phone, 8,000 shekels for a regular cell phone and 15,000 shekels for a smartphone.

The following arrests were made when the clandestine investigation went public:

• Ziyad Shanti, 39, from Khirbet Nabi Elias in the Kalkilye District
• Eli Turki, 22, a Turkish resident from Rishon L’Tzion
• Yaakov Ybergimov, 25, from Bat Yam
• Richard Pashnik, 23, from Rosh Ha’ayin
• Another suspect named Nasser, 20, from Rishon L’Tzion

They were arraigned and remanded numerous times. The Central District Prosecutor plans to file indictments on Monday, 12 Tishrei, against all of the suspects.

Israel Police uncovered a network for smuggling cell phones to terrorists in prisons through employees of a company to supply canteen products to prisoners. The exposure of the network is another move by the Israel Police to thwart the arrival of communications devices to terrorists imprisoned in Israel and to make it difficult to attempt to direct terror out of the prisons.

In an investigation conducted by a central unit of the Israel Police in cooperation with the Israel Prisons Service (IPS), an organized network was discovered to smuggle cell phones to security prisoners in Israeli jails. Among the detainees is a resident of the territories and Israeli citizens who work as a marketing company supplying the canteen products to prisoners in the prisons.

The secret interrogation was opened at the end of last August, after a search by IPS officers of canteen products that arrived at Ofer Prison containing crates of snacks and other consumer goods. They apprehended five cellular telephones and a large number of SIM cards in the shipment.

The examination revealed that the canteen was intended for so-called “security prisoners” held in Ofer Prison.

A number of days later, a case of drink sent to security prisoners in Rimon Prison was checked and six additional phones were discovered. These phones were extremely small, the size of a finger.

In the course of the investigation, the Israel Police investigators uncovered a systematic organization in which the company was infiltrated with workers who did the smuggling, which were transferred from the company’s warehouses in the Shvelah area to prisons throughout the country.

There was also a suspicion that although the destination of the canteen was marked with code only, the members of the chain knew where each shipment was intended and accordingly inserted cellular devices into the drinking boxes.

According to one of the testimonies, the company employees received sums of money of thousands of shekels on each smuggled device, ranging from a few thousand for a tiny cellular phone, 8,000 shekels for a regular cell phone and 15,000 shekels for a smartphone.

The following arrests were made when the clandestine investigation went public:

· Ziyad Shanti, 39, from Khirbet Nabi Elias in the Kalkilye District

· Eli Turki, 22, a Turkish resident from Rishon L’Tzion

· Yaakov Ybergimov, 25, from Bat Yam

· Richard Pashnik, 23, from Rosh Ha’ayin

· Another suspect named Nasser, 20, from Rishon L’Tzion

They were arraigned and remanded numerous times. The Central District Prosecutor plans to file indictments on Monday, 12 Tishrei, against all of the suspects.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)