East Jerusalem residents to be questioned in connection with Sufyan Abdu, taken in last week for ‘incitement’ 3 days after completing 14-year sentence
Police in Jerusalem said Sunday they had detained six East Jerusalem residents as part of their ongoing investigation into a Palestinian man who was arrested last week for “incitement and supporting a terrorist organization” just three days after completing a 14-year prison sentence.
Sufyan Bakri Abdu, from the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, was released from prison on Monday last week. He had been jailed for planning to poison diners at a Jerusalem cafe in 2002.
But on Thursday Abdu was taken in again, a police spokesperson said, after Hamas flags were reportedly flown and calls for violence were allegedly voiced at his welcoming party.
Police said Sunday the probe had led to the arrest of six other Jabel Mukaber residents, and would likely lead to more.
Israeli security forces operating in the West Bank also arrested four Palestinians Sunday suspected of involvement in violent riots and other anti-Israeli actions. They were taken in for questioning.
In 2002 Abdu was convicted of leading a three-man terror cell that plotted to put a tasteless and odorless poison that would induce a heart attack in the drinks of patrons at Cafe Rimon in Jerusalem during the Second Intifada.
The East Jerusalemite worked with Hamas members in Gaza via email who sent him the recipe for making the lethal poison. He was also sent instructions on how to make bombs after he initially failed to brew the lethal recipe effectively.
The team reportedly tested the poison out on cats to make sure the poison did not leave any traces.
Abdu intended to give the poison to Uthman Said Kianyah from Silwan in East Jerusalem, who worked as an assistant chef at Cafe Rimon for more than three years.
In an interrogation with Israel’s internal security agency the Shin Bet, Abdu admitted the purpose of the attack was to avenge the killing of Hamas leader Salah Shehadeh.
As reported by The Times of Israel