For the past several months, an undercover investigation by the MGB and the Traffic Division together with the Nature and Parks Authority has been underway against suspects who call themselves "Mechta Ash". The suspects have been uploading videos to social networks in which they are driving through the Holot Nizanim nature reserve and causing damage to natural values and protected wildlife. Today (Monday) Eight suspects were arrested and seven vehicles were confiscated.
The movement of vehicles in the reserve endangers the travelers and the wildlife that live there.
In the early morning, MGB fighters and volunteers, traffic division detectives, and Nature and Parks Authority inspectors operated in eight different centers in the center and south of the country against the suspects. At the end of the arrests, the vehicles were taken for confiscation. The suspects and the findings were handed over for investigation by the Border Guard and the Nature and Parks Authority.
The vehicles that were confiscated in the Holot Nitzanim reserve after causing damage to the nature reserve, photo: Nature and Parks Authority
The confiscated vehicles.
"endangering human and animal lives",
Tal Rotem, head of Central District Investigations at the Nature and Parks Authority, said that "Vehicle traffic in the reserve area endangers the lives of people who come to the reserve in order to walk and enjoy nature. It also harms protected natural values that exist in the reserve - animals and plants. Nature reserves and national parks are It's everyone's backyard, but there are drivers for whom the area is a park for extreme activities and wild riding. They need to understand that the inspectors and police are there to enforce the law and protect human and wildlife life."
"The Holot Nitzanim reserve is visited by families with children and schoolchildren on the footpaths, and the entry of vehicles into the reserve is prohibited. At the same time, we conduct extensive informational activities in order to reduce the harm to nature and human life. There are many animals in the reserve, including deer, reptiles, rodents and mammals. And unfortunately The lawbreakers hit them while driving wildly and dangerously. The suspects were recorded trampling and vandalizing the nature reserve even though they had installed locks on the gates of the reserve. Rotem added that "the purpose of the operation was to enforce the illegal travel of ATVs, jeeps, motorcycles and razors traveling in the reserve in violation of the law as well as in other nature reserves and national parks."
The scene of the confiscation of vehicles in Nitzanim sands, photo: Nature and Parks Authority
The Holot Nitzanim nature reserve preserves the natural world of landscapes of shifting sands, semi-stabilized sands, depressions with the remains of old orchards, coastal kurkar ridges and a beach.
The Holot Nitzanim nature reserve covers about 20 thousand dunams on the southern coastal plain, between Ashdod and Ashkelon.
In the area of the reserve runs the Nahal "Ataf" - Nahal Enkav, which flows into the sea at Nitsanim Beach.
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