By YAAKOV LAPPIN
12/05/2010
Police eavesdrop on arms deal between suspects and Israeli Arab underworld figure.

An IDF noncommissioned officer and two civilians were arrested on Wednesday by the Israel Police and Military Police for allegedly stealing IDF arms and planning to sell them to underworld criminals.

The officer, 32, from Ashkelon, was arrested along with two men, aged 33 and 20, from Modi’in and Lod, respectively, on suspicion of stealing grenades and thousands of ammunition rounds.

The Modi’in suspect allegedly stored the arms in his home, and was en route to selling the weapons when he was arrested by officers from the Central District’s Central Unit, which led the investigation.

Police had launched an undercover investigation in recent weeks, and said they had eavesdropped on an arms deal between the suspects and a known Israeli Arab underworld figure in Lod.