Tel-Chai Nation: The shoe smuggler

A Hamas terrorist was arrested for trying to smuggle funding to the jihadists in his shoes:

One of two Hamas agents who were named last week by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) for smuggling around 10,000 euros in his shoes was indicted in the Beersheba District Court on Sunday.

The two Gazans were arrested in June by the security agency with terrorism-financing cash hidden in their shoes on its way with them from Gaza to the West Bank. They enabled Israel to gain valuable intelligence on the underground network of tunnels Hamas and Islamic Jihad are digging in Gaza.

Jabaliya resident Itallah Sarahan, 37, was arrested at the Erez Crossing and when he was questioned, security forces learned that he received a permit to enter Israel for trade purposes two weeks prior to his arrest.

On his first day visiting Israel, a Hamas policeman on the Gazan side of the crossing asked Sarahan if he would smuggle cash to Hamas in the West Bank. Sarahan “expressed his willingness to do so,” the Shin Bet said, leading the Hamas police officer to take him to a meeting with the Islamist regime’s operatives, who paid him for the mission and provided him with special shoes in which the money was hidden.

He was promised help if he got caught by Israeli authorities.

Sarahan allegedly smuggled funds on the day before his arrest, as well being caught with more cash on the day of his arrest.

The suspect works as a truck driver in Gaza, clearing sand from Hamas and Islamic Jihad tunnel digging sites. “Sarahan passed on much information about the tunnels he was exposed to, including which terrorist organization was responsible for digging which tunnels, their exact locations, and the status of the digging work,” the Shin Bet said.

The investigation underlines Hamas’s cynical use of Israeli efforts to ease economic conditions for the Gazan civilian population. Thousands of Gazans enter Israel every month for humanitarian, medical, and trade purposes, and Hamas often attempts to exploit these entries to transfer terrorist finances, the Shin Bet said.