Israeli prosecutors charged a French consular driver on Monday with using a diplomatic car to elude border inspections and spirit guns from the Islamist-ruled Gaza Strip to the Israeli-occupied West Bank on behalf of a Palestinian smuggling ring.
The indictment against Romain Franck, a 23-year-old French citizen, was served hours after a gag order was lifted on his Feb. 15 arrest by Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency, whose roles include counterterrorism and counterespionage.
Shin Bet officials, however, said Franck’s motive for transporting 70 pistols and two assault rifles was financial, rather than any ideological support for Palestinian militants.
He received some $US7600 ($9880) in payment for the contraband, according to the indictment, which listed counts including arms possession, arms trafficking, fraud and criminal conspiracy.
Read the story by Dan Williams in the Australian Financial Review (Reuters).