The indictments, filed by Adv. Assaf Bar Yosef from the Southern District Attorney’s Office, reveal that since 2020 there has been a steady increase in smuggling attempts and seizures of weapons smuggled into Israel through the borders with Jordan and Egypt. In 2024, drones began to be widely used for the import of weapons and drugs. According to the allegations, “flooding” the State of Israel with illegal weapons poses a real risk both criminally and in terms of security, enabling terrorist activity, assisting Terrorist Organizations and their operatives in carrying out attacks, and seriously endangering the security of the country’s citizens, partly due to a significant decrease in the prices of weapons.
During November 2024, Saleh Jerjoui conspired with an individual from the Egyptian side for the purpose of importing weapons via drones, and offered the other defendants to join the activity. For this purpose, the defendants purchased drones at a cost of hundreds of shekels. On several different occasions, the defendants acted to import weapons from the Israel-Egypt border using a drone flown from Egyptian territory, with one of them serving as a lookout. The defendants moved in the border area equipped with communication devices, collected the weapons, and transported them into Israeli territory, aware that their actions could harm the country’s security.
In another case, on one occasion in the evening hours, Sami Sarhin listened to the IDF communication network and sent Saleh Jerjoui a recording containing reports from observers who identified the drone smuggling and the directing of forces to the area.
The defendants were charged with weapons offenses and Espionage.
The case was investigated by the Shin Bet and the Negev Counter-Terrorism Unit of the police.
Related Topics
