JERUSALEM: Israeli forces arrested two Israelis and a Palestinian on Tuesday after they allegedly posed as soldiers to rob a jewelry shop in the occupied West Bank, the military and police said.
Officers arrested the suspects “while they were allegedly fleeing the scene of an armed robbery carried out at a jewelry store in the town of Dahariya” in the territory’s south, Israeli police said in a statement.
It added that the suspects had arrived in the Palestinian town “in a vehicle resembling a security vehicle, including emergency lights, while wearing (Israeli military)-style uniforms, protective vests, helmets, and carrying firearms.”
Dahariya mayor Akram Abu Alan told AFP that at around 10:30 am (0830 GMT), a group of individuals “got out of a vehicle wearing Israeli army uniforms and carrying weapons.”
“Posing as soldiers, they stormed a gold shop, stole large quantities of gold, threatened civilians, and damaged parts of the shop,” he said.
Abu Alan said the individuals were arrested about an hour later and that the stolen items were recovered.
The suspects were picked up in a joint operation involving Israeli police, border police and military forces after being located in the town of Samu’a, near the West Bank’s southern border with Israel, the police said.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967.
The police said the three suspects were Bedouins from southern Israel, while the military in a separate statement said they were “a Palestinian and two Israeli civilians.”
Bedouins are a semi-nomadic Arab people who, among other places, live in Israel and the West Bank, and therefore are sometimes Palestinian and sometimes Israeli citizens.