Members of an ISIS cell active in Israel and suspected of planning a terror attack have been taken into custody, the police announced on Wednesday.
The Israel Security Agency (ISA), the internal security and counterintelligence service, ordered the weeks-long action to find and apprehend the terrorists.
The elite Yamas Border Police officers from the Jerusalem District, together with IDF forces, participated in the operation against the radicals accused of “advancing terror activity.”
Soldiers from the Lions of the Jordan Valley Battalion nabbed three members of the cell in Jericho last week, while the Yamas Border Police officers arrested another in the same city this week.
The police said suspects have been transferred to the ISA for further investigation, adding that security forces will continue proactive counterterrorism missions to protect the public.
In another operation, Border Police officers of the Northern District Central Investigations Unit raided a compound in the community of Had Nes in the Golan Heights.
They located a senior member of the Abu Latif crime organization who had been hiding since the launch of an investigation involving the state’s witness known as “the Prince.”
During the arrest of Bashar Mahoul, 43, a resident of Peki’in, a search of the apartment led to the seizure of a copy of the indictment from the “Prince” case.
The police said the discovery indicated the suspect continued to closely monitor the legal proceedings against members of the organization while he was underground.
Upon completion of interrogation, the State Attorney’s Office will file an indictment against Mahoul at the District Court in Haifa for a series of offenses, including extortion by threats.
The arrest followed the recent filing of indictments against 17 defendants from the Abu Latif and Hariri cartels, two of the most powerful and dangerous crime organizations in Israel.
