Police Raids Net 421 Palestinian Suspects

In one of the biggest Israeli police operations on record, over 1,600 officers took part in raids in various parts of the country in which 421 Palestinian suspects were arrested overnight Tuesday and Wednesday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The targets were multiple, including illegal residents, weapons possession, terrorist activity, and other criminal offenses.

“It was a massive operation carried out by Border Police, with aid from Special Patrol and Helicopter Units, that resulted in the arrests of 370 illegal workers, 38 of whom are from the Gaza Strip,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said on Thursday.

“In addition to finding illegal workers, dozens of suspects were arrested throughout the country after gas canisters converted into explosive devices, pipe bombs, petrol bombs and three other illegal weapons were seized.”

Special mention was made of an explosives factory in a home in Abu Dis that produced 55 devices made from gas canisters believed to have been obtained through terrorist connections in Yehudah and Shomron.

In Tamra, located in the Lower Galil, police seized two pipe bombs, and several suspects were caught in Rahat in possession of 16 firebombs and three air guns.