IDF to sell confiscated enemy weapons

bhramos

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Thousands of 'bounty weapons' confiscated from Hezbollah and Hamas in recent years might be auctioned off. 'IDF has no use for them,' officials say

The IDF is considering a massive sale of enemy weapons and war materials confiscated in recent years during various military operations. Senior officials expressed support for the measure during a series of discussions held by the IDF's Ground Forces and the Logistics Branch, saying that the IDF has no use for these weapons. A final decision has yet to be reached.

Approximately 6,000 so-called 'bounty weapons' have accumulated in the IDF storage facilities, taken from Hezbollah and Hamas during the Second Lebanon War, Operation Cast Lead and events that followed.

'Considerable profit expected'
The weapons are unused, largely for sensitivity reasons. Documents that touch on the matter quote former head of the IDF's Technology and Logistics Branch, Udi Adam, as saying that he forbids the use of the confiscated weapons. The IDF does examine enemy fighting equipment in order to study its characteristics, but most of it transferred to the storage facilities.

Last May the IDF inventoried the weapons and decided which will be sold and which will be kept. The equipment found aboard the Francop cargo ship, which was captured by the Navy on its way from Iran to Hezbollah hands last November, was not included in the project.

Among the weapons that are set to be sold are 28 Beretta shotguns, 183 submachine guns, 23 Galil rifles, 114 hunting rifles, 9 Russian machine guns, 51 anti-tank projectors and 15 sniper rifles. In a meeting conducted in October, Ground Force officials advised that the unnecessary weapons should be sold. Logistics Branch officials noted that the liquidation will be done by the Defense Ministry, the same way that old IDF weapons are sold, and that it might rake in considerable profit.

'Sale doesn't pose ethical issue'
IDF officers insisted that the sale does not pose an ethical predicament. "This equipment is not in use, it takes up space and has no significance," one officer said. "The previous use of the weapons is irrelevant."



The Defense Ministry will auction off the weapons that will be accessible only to local and international bodies that have permits to buy them, in accordance with existing policy. Some of the weapons are in usable condition, while a few others are intended for display.

"The IDF is currently conducting administrative groundwork concerning the sale of different types of equipment that is unused," an IDF spokesperson responded. "Various possibilities are being considered for the sale of these items, including the bounty weapons. This administrative groundwork is yet to be completed."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3982647,00.html
 
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