An Israeli Arab man and an IDF reservist have been indicted on espionage charges, after the reservist allegedly sold secret information to the man, who passed the information to unknown sources.
An Israeli Arab man was indicted on Thursday for paying a reserve soldier in the IDF to obtain secret information about army troops.
Salman Jaribiya, 29, from Lod was charged with aggravated espionage, obtaining secret information and conspiring to commit a crime.
The reservist, Benny Revayev, will be indicted on Tuesday. He has been in custody since the beginning of the investigation.
According to the indictment, Jaribiya and the soldier met during their army service in a base in southern Israel. They agreed that the soldier – who was called in for reserve duty early last month – would provide Jaribiya with secret information in return for NIS 50,000. The reservist will be tried and prosecuted by the Military Advocate General.
Revayev allegedly provided Jaribiya with secret information about IDF troop movements on the border with Egypt. Jaribiya then purportedly passed on the information he received to unknown persons, who paid him undisclosed sums of money.
Revayev was drafted as a reserve duty driver under non-commissioned conditions within the Sagea regional brigade 512, and served at a base near the Egyptian border. The suspect and the reservist ostensibly acquired special cell phones in order to orchestrate their spy operations. The reservist supposedly passed on large amounts of secret information including:
- Real-time locations of IDF patrols, tanks, and soldiers guarding the border with Egypt
- Real-time information about troop locations and unguarded portions of the fence
- Information regarding the tactics of IDF units
- The IDF’s security procedures on the border
- IDF warnings regarding security threats on or near the Egyptian border
- Areas near the border that IDF soldiers are prohibited from entering
- IDF intelligence about suspect movements near the border fence
- The location of the battalion commander and other officers
- The location of IDF surveillance positions
- The location of IDF cameras near the border
- Real-time information about an IDF pursuit that occurred near the border
- Real-time location of IDF troops during an exercise
According to the charge, after receiving the secret information, the suspect contacted persons whose identities are currently unknown to the prosecutor, and was meant to receive money in exchange.
Additionally, two other men were arrested and indicted in connection with the reservist: Iyad Kishek from Jaljulia; and Vadim Hodatov from Hadera. Hodatov was charged with attempting to purchase two pistols from the Revayev, who was meant to receive them from a third party in exchange for an undisclosed sum of money.
After the first deal fell through, Hodatov’s payment was returned, according to the charges, and Hodaov later contacted Revayev once again in an attempt to buy the two guns. According to the indictment, Revayev later purchased the guns from Kishek, who was indicted on charges of weapons trafficking and illegal possession of a firearm.
After the purchase, Revayev hid the guns in his vehicle and began driving towards Hodatov in order to deliver them, said the indictment. But Revayev never made it as he was stopped by police officers on the way. The investigation was managed by a special team of investigators from the Lahav 433’s National Investigation and Intelligence Init and the military police’s special investigations unit.
As reported by Ynetnews