[IsraelTimes] State attorneys have filed an indictment against a 16-year-old suspected of spying on Iran’s behalf, after he was arrested Friday by police.
The defendant is thought to have carried out missions for his handler, who he contacted over Telegram, over the course of several months. They began corresponding a few months after October 7.
According to the indictment filed this morning, the suspect received NIS 1,600 from the agent for printing incendiary posters and taking pictures with it near public buildings. He is said to have taken photos and videos of eight public buildings in Rehovot, including the Magistrate’s Court, Tax Authority office, police station and others.
Prosecutors add that the agent asked the teenage defendant, a resident of the Judean foothills area, to set fire to a forested area near Rehovot during large wildfires that broke out west of Jerusalem earlier in May. He never carried out the act, however, due to a dispute over the amount he was to be paid.
He is charged in the Lod District Juvenile Court with contacting a foreign agent and providing information to the enemy.
Over the past two years, Iranian intelligence operatives have ramped up their efforts to recruit ordinary Israelis as spies or saboteurs in exchange for money, according to Israeli law enforcement.
Just yesterday, police officers and Shin Bet agents arrested 18-year-old Yavne resident Moshe Attias on suspicion of contact with “Iranian terror elements” and carrying out several missions on their behalf, including spying on former prime minister Naftali Bennett when he was hospitalized.
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