BICOM

Israeli security forces yesterday announced that six individuals have been charged for planning bombings on behalf of Hezbollah in Haifa and other northern Israeli locations.

A Shin Bet statement said those arrested included three brothers from the village of Ghajar, which straddles the Israel-Lebanon border. All residents are Israeli citizens, although the northern half of the village is located in Lebanon.

Three of those charged, Youssef, Samir and Diab Kahamuz, are the sons of Sa’ad Kahamuz, a drug dealer who fled to Lebanon in 2006 and is thought to have close links with Hezbollah. He apparently asked Diab to use drug-smuggling routes to transfer explosives into Israel.

Using encrypted e-mails, Diab allegedly took orders from Hezbollah to locate targets in the major city of Haifa and elsewhere. Diab and his brothers are accused of having scouted out options in Haifa, a factory in nearby Nesher and a hitchhiking point near Tur’an, often used by soldiers.

According to the Shin Bet, Diab received two explosive charges from Hezbollah, which he hid in an orchard south of the Israeli border town of Metula. However, in July the charges were discovered by chance and reported by a local farmer. Diab was allegedly scheduled to take delivery of a second consignment of explosives on behalf of Hezbollah in August.

The suspects were yesterday charged with espionage, aiding the enemy during war, import and export of weapons, contacting a foreign agent and drug dealing.

The Shin Bet statement noted that there have been “several” previous cases of Hezbollah-controlled drug smuggling routes being used for transferring explosives. In particular, it mentioned a 2012 case in which 20 kilograms of C4 explosive were uncovered, leading to arrests in Ghajar and Nazareth.

In August, the Shin Bet said it disrupted Hezbollah attempts to recruit a cell in the West Bank. Hezbollah has also been responsible for attacking Israeli targets abroad, most notably a bus bombing which killed Israeli tourists in Bulgaria in 2012.