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Ten Israelis held as Hezbollah spies
JERUSALEM (CNN) -- An Israeli army officer and several former soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of spying for the Lebanon-based Hezbollah in exchange for money and drugs, the Israeli military said Wednesday. A senior Israeli official, who wished to remain unnamed, said an Israeli lieutenant colonel and nine others were in detention and charged with transferring sensitive military information to the militant Islamic group. The officer's identity has not been released. An Israeli police official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said the men were accused of giving Hezbollah sensitive military information about troop logistics along Israel's northern border and personal information about high-ranking Israeli officers posted there. The police official said the lieutenant colonel was the only current military member among those arrested, but that several of those arrested were former soldiers. The army officer was the suspected leader of the group, in charge of "hiring" other members, the official said. The official said the group was paid with drugs, including heroin and hashish, and "lots of money." The Israel newspaper Ha'aretz reported Wednesday that the men were accused of providing information on tank positions near the border, information on at least two senior Israeli Northern Command officers, and information on soldiers in key outposts and intelligence installations. Ha'aretz said authorities accused members of the officer's family of assisting. In a statement Wednesday, the Israeli army condemned "this exceptional incident," calling it "among the gravest offenses both in the field of security and according to the military code of values." The investigation began September 12 when police arrested two people near Kibbutz Asa suspected of buying drugs from a dealer on the Lebanese border, Ha'aretz reported. A subsequent investigation led to more arrests. Hezbollah waged a campaign for 18 years against Israel's occupation of southern Lebanon as a self-declared security zone. Israel withdrew from Lebanon two years ago but maintains a heavy military presence on its northern frontier. Hezbollah is blamed for anti-Western and anti-Israeli terrorist acts dating from the early 1980s and is on the U.S. State Department's official list of terrorist organizations. Officials said all the suspects were arrested in the same operation and that the trading of information had been going on for about a year. The group is expected to appear in an Israeli court Thursday.
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