Military-grade weapons are being smuggled by drone into Israel from Egypt on a daily basis and are disappearing to unknown locations around the country, warns the head of security for the Eshkol region in southern Israel.
Eshkol Regional Council Security Chief Keith Ilan Isaacson said that cross-border smuggling is taking place on a daily basis, with many drones evading detection.
“There isn’t one day that there’s no smuggling. If it was only drugs, I wouldn’t be worried. But it's not just drugs anymore,” he said.
In a report on Monday evening, Israel’s Channel 11 also reported on this phenomenon which it claims has been hushed by the IDF. Military correspondent Roy Sharon put the number of drones crossing into Israel from Egypt at a minimum of more than 100 a month, but that could be much higher, as there are no official estimates, he noted.
In a statement to Channel 11, the IDF said it is aware of these developments “and is actively working on the matter to improve operational deterrence in the area.”
The problematic border is 150 miles of mostly uninhabited rough terrain on the Israeli side. The smugglers are equipped with all-terrain vehicles that can outrun those of the army and other security forces. Even if a package is caught, the smugglers rarely are.
And more troubling, no one knows where the shipments are headed.
“Most probably those weapons are going to Judea and Samaria,” Isaacson surmised, adding, “There’s a lot of things we don’t know.”
Smuggling of all types over both the Egyptian and Jordanian borders has plagued Israeli security for decades. Israel has diplomatic ties with both countries, which have fought together to thwart smuggling attempts.
However, the use of drones has leveled up the smugglers’ capabilities. With drones, they are able to haul more and larger equipment in a shorter amount of time. They are also able to evade detection themselves – the smugglers can simply bail if the army spots the drone and arrives first.
“It’s much easier for them now – back then, they had to get to the border physically,” Isaacson said.
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