Seven Israelis Charged With 600 Spy Missions For Iran: One Of Them Is Army Deserters
Seven Israeli Jewish nationals were indicted after they were arrested last month on suspicion of spying for Iran for two years, carrying out about 600 missions on Tehran's orders.
The seven people were accused of committing security violations by helping the enemy during the war, as well as providing information to the enemy.
The suspects, all of whom are residents of Haifa and northern territories, including an army soldier who defected from the military, as well as two unnamed minors aged 16-17, were reported by The Times of Israel October 26.
Prosecutors said Azis Tombstoneov was recruited by Iran as head of a spy network, with his deputy Alexander Sadykov managing other agents.
The third defendant is an unnamed minor who is the main agent for tasks involving photography and sending images to Iranian contacts, and the fourth is a minor who is involved in photography tasks, content delivery, and receipt of money from Iranian agents.
Vyacheslav Gushchin, Yevgeny Yoffe and Yigal Nissan were determined by prosecutors as the last three defendants.
If caught, Tombstoneov has made up a story where the spy is a tour guide, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the suspects gathered information about sensitive locations in Israel, military bases to human targets.
The defendants carried out hundreds of missions to photograph air bases in Nevatim, Ramat David, Tel Nof, and Palmachim, as well as bases in Beer Tuvia, Kiryat Gat, Emek Hefer, and the Glilot complex north of Tel Aviv.
In addition, the defendants photographed Iron Dome missile defense systems in the Haifa region, government buildings in Haifa, Haifa ports, Ashdod, and Eilat, Hadera power plants, and IDF observation balloons in the Golanijection area.
Iranian operators have also sent one of the suspects in information about military bases and strategic locations, for the purpose of carrying out future photography missions, including the Golani training base dining room which was targeted by drone attacks earlier this month, and the location of defense company Rafael.
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Prosecutors said the suspects were also sent to take pictures of the Nevatim airbase on April 14, a day after Iran's ballistic missile and drone attacks.
In addition, Tombstoneov was asked to seek information about cars, relatives, to the schedule of a gas engineering expert at Haifa University who once gave a lecture on Iran.
The suspects received payments and reimbursements ranging from 500 US dollars to 1,200 US dollars per assignment.
The total payment received by the spy network was around 300,000 US dollars and was then divided among its members.