Israeli forces yesterday arrested a Senegalese soldier of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) caught handing a quantity of explosives and detonators to an Arab terrorist from the West Bank. Both men were arrested in Acre and were promptly remanded to prison by a local magistrate. (At the United Nations in New York, Israel’s Ambassador Yehuda Blum lodged a formal protest with Secretary General Kurt Waldheim. Waldheim expressed regret over the incident and promised to investigate the matter.)
According to security sources, the soldier confessed under interrogation that he had delivered explosives and other material from Lebanon to terrorists in Israel and the West Bank on several previous occasions. It was learned that he had been recruited by El Fatah, the terrorist branch of the Palestine Liberation Organization, which offered him money for his services. It was not known if his superiors were aware of his activities.
The soldier had crossed the Ras Nikura check-point from Lebanon yesterday in a military jeep which carried a space tire filled with explosives and 101 detonators.
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