Border Police Officers Arrested for Alleged Vehicle Theft

The Police Investigations Department (Mahash) arrested three Border Police officers on Thursday on suspicion of stealing a vehicle, using it without authorization, and abusing their official powers. One of the arrested officers is reportedly the son of a senior security official.

According to a Mahash statement, the three officers noticed a parked vehicle with its keys inside during a patrol in the area surrounding Jerusalem. They then took the vehicle and drove it without any legal authority. During the unauthorized drive, they caused damage to other parked vehicles before abandoning the car without reporting the incident to their superiors.

The vehicle has not yet been recovered. Following their interrogation, the three officers were released under restrictive conditions, including a 15-day ban from police facilities.

However, the lawyer representing one of the suspects denied Mahash's account. He stated that his client was ordered by his commanders during a field operation to drive an "abandoned vehicle" and transport it into Israel. The lawyer asserted that his client "acted as expected of him according to the hierarchy of the service," implying he was following orders, and that he provided investigators with his full account of the incident.