Israeli prison warden arrested for smuggling phone to inmates

An Israeli prison warden was arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone to a Palestinian detainee in return for €2,000, Israeli police said yesterday.

In a statement the police said: “The crime fighting unit in the Israeli police, known as Lahav 433, arrested an unidentified Israeli man, aged 20 years old, on suspicion of attempting to smuggle a mobile phone in return for €2,000 to a Palestinian prisoner who acts as spokesman for Fatah prisoners in jail.”

“During interrogation, the warden confessed that he planned to smuggle the mobile phone and to committing a series of similar crimes in exchange for thousands of Euros.” The warden worked in the Shikma Prison in Ashkelon, southern Israel.

Earlier, Israeli police had arrested two wardens who smuggled mobile phones to Palestinian detainees in exchange for money.

The Israeli General Security Service, Shin Bet accused the Palestinian prisoners of using mobile phones to form “militant” groups in jail.

However, Director of Ahrar Centre for Prisoners’ Studies and Human Rights Fouad Khuffash said that the prisoners use phones to contact their families after prison authorities banned their families from visiting them for “security reasons”.