Israel Police and Ministry of Agriculture agents on Monday night raided a plant in Kafr Kanna, an Arab town, in lower Galilee, northern Israel, and confiscated about 30 tons of meat whose origin is suspected to be the Palestinian Authority, Israeli media reported. The raid, which also involved agricultural supervision inspectors at the Health Ministry, unveiled slaughtered carcasses of several species of animals, including camels and donkeys. The plant owner was detained for interrogation.
On Sunday night Agriculture Ministry supervisors of Pitzu’ach (Central Unit for Enforcement and Investigations), alongside the Judea and Samaria police, discovered a smuggling network of meat from the PA into Israel. According to the Agriculture Ministry, the meat is being smuggled to restaurants and stores with fake documentation.
Israeli authorities now suspect that the smuggling network, comprised of Arabs and Jews, illegally shipped the meat from the PA to Israel using trucks with double walls and additional smuggling methods. Police believe the importer purchases the meat in South America for the Palestinian Authority, via the Haifa harbor. From Haifa the meat is shipped to a storage facility in Jerusalem, and from there, rather than continuing into the PA, it is shipped, covered in fake kashrut certificates, fake expiration dates and fake veterinarian certificates.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, since the beginning of 2016 Pitzu’ach has foiled attempts to smuggle 39 tons of uninspected meat intended for selling in Israel. Over the past three years, the same unit has foiled more than 360 smuggling attempts, yielding about 730 tons of illegal meat.
Roy Klieger, head of Pitzu’ach, said the operations to capture illegal meat are based on a broad intelligence network that enables his agents to locate trucks smuggling meat or any other agricultural product. He credited police and other government agencies for their cooperation in blocking uninspected meat that is not only not kosher but may also pose a health risk.