French consulate worker Romain Franck, a French employee of France's Consulate in Jerusalem, covers his face during a hearing at the district court in in Beersheba, Israel. Photo / AP
A French national working for his country's consulate in Jerusalem has been detained on suspicion of smuggling weapons out of the Gaza Strip, Israel's internal security agency said today.
The consulate employee, identified as Romain Franck, is alleged to have smuggled weapons from Hamas-controlled Gaza to the occupied West Bank
on five occasions in recent months, Shin Bet said.
He used a diplomatic vehicle belonging to the French consulate, the security agency said. Such vehicles are subject to less stringent security checks.
Franck, who French media said was 23 or 24 years old, is suspected of having transferred about 70 pistols and two assault rifles. The indictment said he was working for a "criminal" weapons smuggling ring.
"The investigation clearly shows that the employee of the French consulate acted for financial gain, on his own initiative and without the knowledge of his superiors," the Shin Bet statement said. "This is a very grave incident in which the immunity and privileges granted to foreign missions in Israel were cynically exploited to smuggle dozens of weapons that may be used for terrorist attacks against Israeli civilians and security forces."
