The Israel Police arrested several suspects on Saturday in connection with a large-scale theft of ammunition overnight on Sunday from a military base in the Golan Heights.
The suspects are residents of the northern Arab Israeli town of Tuba Zangariyye.
Some 70,000 rounds of 5.56mm ammunition and 70 rifle grenades were stolen from the Tznobar training base near Katzrin, and remain missing, according to the military. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Police are not ruling out the possibility that the thieves received assistance from inside the base, according to a report by Ynet on Sunday.
The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) intelligence agency is involved in the investigation.
The theft of firearms and ammunition from Israel Defense Forces bases has been a long-standing problem and forms a main source of weapons for the criminal underworld in the country. The IDF has invested significant sums in creating new security measures around its facilities to prevent such incidents.
In October, the IDF said thieves stole some 30,000 rounds of ammunition from the Sde Teiman base in southern Israel.
