New details surfaced on Friday regarding the alleged Israeli Arab terror cell arrested earlier this month. The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) and the Israel Police's Northern District Central Unit arrested five Israeli Arabs in Daburiya, a village near Nazareth, for allegedly plotting to attack a border police soldier and use his weapon to perpetrate terror attacks. While most details remain shrouded due to a gag order, the cell members were identified as probable ring leader and Haifa University student Asalam Atrash, 24, Technion Institute of Technology student Shadi Ibrahim, 19, Mahdi Maslaha, 21, Ibrahim Aktilat, 20, and his cousin Ismail Aktilat, 21. The five are suspected of planning to attack a border police soldier who also resided in Daburiya, and then using the stolen weapon to attack other targets, including the police station in Daburiya. Israeli media outlets reported that the Northern District Attorney's Office issued indictments against the five men for involvement in a terrorist plot. Aktilat and Ibrahim were also charged with conspiracy to attack Jews. Ibrahim was reportedly also indicted for manufacturing explosives. The suspects' alleged plot was thwarted by the ISA and Israel Police while still in the planning stages. "A tragedy was averted. We knew they had plans for other terror attacks, but they were foiled," said Northern District Central Unit Commander Maj. Gen. Michael Shafshak. According to Shafshak, the suspects were young, intelligent college students with no prior criminal records. "They were very determined to carry out their plan," he said. One member said in his interrogation that he had intended to find work in a government office and carry out a terror attack there. "The five had already started collecting intelligence. Their main goal was to strike security forces, out of the belief that they represent Zionism and are infidels who must be attacked," Shafshak said. The Sin Bet and Israel Police investigation began a few months ago and say that more suspects will likely be arrested in the coming days. The alleged cell members were affiliated with a Salafi Islamist group, Salfiya Jihadiya.There has been a marked growth of radical Salafi movements in the Nazareth region. In 2009, members of a radical Salafi group murdered Jewish Nazareth-based taxi driver Yafim Wenistein. Police have asked the courts to extend the suspects' remand until the end of legal proceedings against them at the Nazareth District Court. A former MK and lawyer for one of the defendants, Abdulmalik Dehamshe, spoke with Channel 2 about the case. "My client denies all charges against him and said that all he did was speak with a relative in the Gaza Strip. The Shin Bet is trying to tie him into what's happening around the Palestinian declaration of statehood." "My son has nothing to do with this, he is with his brothers from morning to night helping them and I have never heard about what they are charging against him," Ibrahim's father said.
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