The Haifa District State Attorney’s Office filed an indictment on Friday against three men who filmed themselves holding a stolen IDF MATADOR shoulder-fired missile.
Two of the men, residents of Shfaram aged 22 and 24, were arrested on September 5 in connection with the theft during a targeted operational activity conducted by the Northern District police, the IDF’s anti-terrorist unit, and officers of the military’s Northern Command.
During the investigation, a third suspect, 22, was identified and arrested, and it came to light that he was a Palestinian resident of the West Bank who had entered sovereign Israel illegally.
The Israel Police and Border Police have confiscated over 700 deadly weapons in 2026 in the fight against arms smuggling and violent crime; however, police noted that the MATADOR shoulder missile stolen from the IDF was a highly unusual case.
On Thursday, in a similar targeted raid, police and Border Police arrested four Palestinian residents of the West Bank on suspicion of owning illegal weapons.
Three suspects, two men in their 20s and a woman in her 50s, were arrested in the village of Jaba, near Nablus, and the fourth, a Nablus resident in his 40s, was arrested in a different village.
In Jaba, Israeli forces found ten M16 ammunition magazines and hundreds of rounds of various other types of ammunition inside the suspects’ home. Police said the investigation is ongoing.
In the case of the fourth suspect, Israeli forces observed a bag being thrown from a window as they arrived to search the home. The bag contained a pistol, magazines, ammunition, a face mask, and other combat equipment. The suspect was subsequently taken to Ariel for questioning. Following a court hearing, the suspect’s detention was extended until October 26.
Miriam Sela-Eitam contributed to this report.