12 charged for selling pistols, rifles, stun grenades in coded WhatsApp chat

Twelve southern Israel residents were charged for illegal arms sales through a coded WhatsApp, according to an indictment announced Monday by the Southern District Attorney's Office, as gun violence in Israel continues to afflict the Arab sector. 

The arms dealing network headed by bookkeeper Abdulmajid Abu Amra sold rifles, pistols, stun grenades, weapons parts, and tens of thousands of units of ammunition worth hundreds of thousands of shekels throughout 2021 and 2022.

Various weapons and calibers of ammunition were transferred in these transactions, according to the indictment including M-16s and FN pistols.

Suspects made requests for specific munitions and weapons in the Whatsapp group, often asking for armaments "urgently" and for them to be new or "clean." Besides requests, there were also advertisements and deals conducted through the group.

How did the perpetrators communicate?

The WhatsApp chats used coded language, referring to pistol ammunition as "small screws." Shock grenades were offered to one client as "apples."

When Abu Amra mentioned to another suspect that three people were shot in the Palestinian city of Yata, and the man suggested they could have used arms sold through the network, the bookkeeper said that "They died, may God have mercy on them, what will we do?"

"The people are eating each other, I swear to God, here in Rahat," Abu Amra said in another message, saying that it was good for the livelihood of arms dealers.

Prosecutor Giora Hazan said "The conduct revealed on the phone of the 1st respondent [Abu Amra] reveals how the streets of Israel in general and the streets of the villages in the Arab sector, in particular, were flooded with thousands of illegal weapons that exact an unbearable price on human life, and harm [sic] serious in the personal security of the citizens of Israel. And it's all due to greed for money."

Two of the suspects were brothers, and a third was their cousin. Most were residents of Tel Sheva.

At the Knesset State Comptroller Committee on Monday, chairman MK Mickey Levy assured that "The plan to combat crime in the Arab sector exists. It is broad, comprehensive, and its implementation began even more strongly during the previous government. In the past half a year, serious and comprehensive work has been done that has produced clear results. There has been a 36% increase in indictments."

Levy also said that there was a decrease in murders for the first time in years.

MK Ahmad Tibi said during the discussion that the situation with weapons was out of control, to the point that assassinations were being filmed in the street.