Israel releases Jordan lawmaker mentioned to have smuggled weapons

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli authorities launched a Jordanian lawmaker to his residence nation on Sunday, Israel’s home safety company mentioned, after he allegedly tried smuggling dozens of rifles and handguns by means of an Israeli-controlled border crossing.

Legislator Imad Al-Adwan’s arrest threatened to additional pressure ties between Israel and neighboring Jordan, which have had tense relations not too long ago regardless of a virtually three-decade-old peace treaty. Israel seen the incident as critical, however Al-Adwan’s launch signaled it hoped to place the possibly flamable affair behind it.

Al-Adwan was arrested on Apr. 22 with luggage stuffed with greater than 200 weapons, the Shin Bet company mentioned in a press release. It mentioned its investigation revealed that Al-Adwan carried out 12 separate smuggling makes an attempt since early 2022, utilizing his diplomatic passport to herald something from digital cigarettes to gold to birds.

The Shin Bet mentioned that because the begin of the yr, he made quite a few profitable makes an attempt to smuggle in arms. The smuggling was finished in trade for unspecified quantities of cash, the Shin Bet mentioned. The company mentioned he was launched for “further investigation and pursuit of justice” by Jordanian authorities.

Jordan’s Foreign Ministry, in addition to a brother of Al-Adwan, couldn’t instantly be reached for remark. Jordanian state media reported that authorities have been taking steps to carry Al-Adwan to trial primarily based on proof made out there to them. Those steps included lifting his parliamentary immunity and referring his case to judicial officers.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence over the previous yr. Israel says the world has been flooded with unlawful weapons, together with weapons smuggled from neighboring Jordan.

Since Israel’s hard-line authorities took workplace late final yr, relations with Jordan have deteriorated over Israeli settlement building, violence within the West Bank and insurance policies over holy websites in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The ties have been at a nadir in 2017, when a safety guard on the Israeli embassy in Jordan shot and killed two Jordanians, alleging one attacked him with a screwdriver. The Israeli guard and Israel’s then-ambassador got a hero’s welcome by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Jordan.

Jordan managed the West Bank and east Jerusalem earlier than Israel captured the areas within the 1967 Mideast warfare, however the kingdom retains custodianship of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and different Muslim holy websites within the Old City.

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