Israel charges three Turkish nationals with plot to smuggle Iranian weapons into country

The State Attorney's Office filed an indictment in the Nazareth District Court on Sunday against three Turkish citizens for weapons offenses and entering the country illegally.

The indictment, revealed on Sunday, names three Turkish nationals, Rahman Gokyer, Younes Ozel and Oktay Asci as defendants.

The three were part of an arms smuggling network run by a Turkish citizen who lives outside the country, but helped smuggle Oktay Asci into Israel as part of the operations.

According to the plan, the Turkish operatives were in contact with an Iranian arms dealer who would transport the guns to Jordan, and the weapons would be smuggled into Israel by workers entering at the Jordanian border.

One one occasion, Oktay Asci collected a package containing a gun and buried it in a pile of sand near his apartment in Bat Yam. He then hid the gun in his house before giving it to someone else.

Asci was deported from Israel earlier this year in July, but tried to return in September alongside Rahman Gokyer, who he had recruited to help with the weapons smuggling. The two flew from Turkey to Saudi Arabia, traveling from there to Jordan. The two did not bring any handguns with them, due to an internal dispute, but they attempted to cross the border into Israel anyway. They were caught by IDF forces while trying to cross the border fence near Kibbutz Shaar Hagolan in the Golan Heights area.

Gokyer's role was to receive the guns, hold them and transfer them to other parties in the country, as well as to collect the money from the transactions. For his role, he was promised a payment of $1 million.

Meanwhile, Younes Ozel, who was already working in the country illegally, was recruited to help collect the weapons from the unknown transporters and make payment. In that role, Ozel twice went to the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, collected money for the payment from a shop at the station and waited for the person with the weapons to arrive. In each case, the person delivering the weapons did not arrive, but Ozel kept 5,000 shekels (about $1,520) in payment for himself.

Additionally, Asci is also charged with attempting to supply weapons for terror purposes.

The three men were indicted on Sunday at the Nazareth District Court, with prosecutors requesting the men remain in custody during the legal proceedings.