Through joint efforts by the police and IDF and with the help
of chareidi public figures, a truck belonging to Vaad
Hagenizoh Hakloli was located a short time after it was
stolen from the Atarot Industrial Zone north of Jerusalem.
As two Vaad Hagenizoh volunteers were preparing to clear
large sacks using the truck's crane in Atarot, two young
Arabs leaped onto the truck and drove off with it within
seconds. The two volunteers began to pursue the truck in
another vehicle but, driving at high speed, the thieves
managed to escape from sight, apparently with the help of a
Palestinian in another truck who interfered with the
chase.
The two volunteers immediately notified the police and a
vehicle locating company, Ituran, which immediately said that
the truck was in Bir Navalah, a village north of Atarot in
the Ramallah area. A short time later, Ituran computers
reported that the truck was again in motion and eventually it
stopped in the village of A-Ram, also north of Atarot.
Israel police were involved in tracking the truck but as soon
as it was found in a Palestinian village, Judea and Samaria
District Police said the military would have to be summoned
to enter the village and recover the truck. Vaad Hagenizoh
Hakloli contacted Jerusalem Mayor Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky,
Deputy Mayor Rabbi Uri Maklev and MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni.
Following conversations with Palestinian officials and with
the help of Rabbi Yekutiel Vizner, it was decided to send in
a military force to recover the truck.
A few hours after, the theft an IDF force consisting of
several jeeps entered the village and located the truck
within minutes. The driver was asked for the keys but the
thieves had already managed to sabotage the locator system,
rendering the truck inoperable after wreaking havoc to the
wiring system.
Soldiers guarded the truck for hours until a police tow truck
arrived late into the night to transport it to a repair shop.
A Vaad Hagenizoh spokesman said that valuable equipment
stolen from the truck was not recovered and the expensive
repairs of the damage caused by the thieves is only partially
covered by insurance.
