Two suspects in the arson of a hayloft and a tractor in Kibbutz Snir in the north were arrested:
Large police forces of the Northern District Police and Border Police forces were launched yesterday (Tuesday) around one o'clock at night, after receiving a report of arson in the kibbutz near Kiryat Shmona.
Two suspects arrested for setting fire to a hayloft and tractor in a kibbutz in the north // Photo: Police Spokeswoman (Kinneret)
The suspects were arrested after a chase accompanied by gunfire, at the entrance to the village of Tuba Zangaria.
Northern District officers conducted the chase while closing all of the vehicle’s escape routes along Route 90. The vehicle was stopped using spikes as it tried to enter the village areas at high speed.
Two 35- and 49-year-old suspects, residents of the village, were arrested in the vehicle.
Evidence linking them to arson was found in their vehicle, and this morning they will be brought to court for a hearing on a police request to extend their detention.
District Commander, Superintendent Shimon Lavie: "We are fighting day and night in the criminal organizations in the north, in the shooting incidents in the Arab sector, and in the phenomenon of collecting sponsorship fees and using violence against civilians, by criminal elements. Determined, of the suspects.
"We are waging a decisive, uncompromising fight here against the criminal organizations. We have the patience and strength to continue with it as high as necessary. "Their very existence. This is also the case in this case, where suspicion arose that one of the motives for the arson was the plight of the criminal organizations in the area, following the crackdown on police activities against them."
The secretary general of the kibbutz movement, Nir Meir: "A new government, an old situation.
This morning, too, we wake up to another agricultural crime, designed to intimidate the people of Snir's cattle industry, extort protection from them and undermine the sense of security and sovereignty in the area.
"We call on our friend, Minister of Internal Security Amar Bar-Lev, a friend of agriculture and settlement who knows the situation - to raise the issue of dealing with agricultural crime to a high place on the police agenda, and to fight it fearlessly, as he has already stated he intends to do."
