Posted on 05/29/2004 10:51:12 AM PDT by bunkerhill7
JPost.com » News » Security-Diplomacy » Police find two more fake ambulances in Azariyeh May. 28, 2004 12:30 | Updated May. 28, 2004 12:33 Police find two more fake ambulances in Azariyeh By YAAKOV KATZ
Police uncovered overnight Thursday two more fake ambulances, which they suspect were part of a network of fake ambulances used to smuggle Palestinian Authority officers disguised as patients into Israel.
The ambulances were uncovered in the village of Azariyeh, east of Jerusalem, which police said was the center of the network. A second man suspected of involvement with the network - a Palestinian from east Jerusalem with Israeli ID - was arrested overnight Thursday.
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Police said the ambulances were sold to people in Azariyeh by Arab Israelis several years ago, after they were no longer safe enough to go on the road.
Police said it is possible the ring, which they believe may have been directly linked to PA Chairman Yasser Arafat, has also smuggled terrorists into Israel using the ambulances as a cover.
Police said members of Arafat's personal presidential elite Force 17 were smuggled in the ambulances, including the head of Force 17, who was smuggled recently in order to hold meetings with officials in east Jerusalem.
The Palestinian "patients" were hooked up to oxygen bags and other medical devices inside the ambulances and would also have ink spilled on them in order to give off the appearance that the officers were wounded and were in need of urgent medical care. Police said that the ambulance drivers carried forged medic licenses and that the vehicle's license plates were also fake.
"There is a strong possibility that Arafat was directly involved in the ambulance smuggling ring," Judea and Samaria Police Spokesman Doron Ben-Hamo said, adding that documents allegedly signed by Arafat and connected to the ring were found during a raid on a Force 17 office in Azzariyeh on Wednesday.
"Soldiers at the checkpoint check to see if there are explosives or anything suspicious inside the vehicles," Ben-Hamo said, in an attempt to explain how the ring succeeded to fool troops stationed at roadblocks leading to Jerusalem. "But, once they are presented with documents that appear to be real and nothing suspicious is found, they let the vehicle through."
Judea and Samaria Police arrested at the beginning of the week one suspect in the case for allegedly posing as an ambulance driver and for smuggling dozens of Palestinians disguised as sick patients into Israel. Police also raided a warehouse in Azzariyeh, where the GMC vans were transformed into ambulances. They said they are investigating the possibility that the vans were stolen from Israeli hospitals.
Palestinian minister Saeb Erekat told Reuters that the accusations were "another attempt to undermine the Palestinian Red Cross and Red Crescent" and noted that Israel stops and thoroughly checks every ambulance that goes through a checkpoint.
"I don't know why such accusations are being leveled at this time, when they are not even allowing patients to reach medical institutions," Erekat said.
Mother of All Ambulances, no Jugs and on Speed
Mamzers, thugs, and greed.
Will CNN complain that this violates the Geneva Convention?
Neither will peter jennings or any of the other mainstream media gods.
Palestinian ingenuity at work.
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