WEST BANK (Dispatches) – A deputy mayor of a city in central parts of the Israeli-occupied territories has been interrogated by the police’s major crimes division on suspicion of having attempted to smuggle a Ukrainian woman into the occupied territories.
Police said the public official, who was also questioned over receiving data-x-items fraudulently, was released under restrictive conditions.
The Ukrainian woman, in her 30s, who arrived in the occupied territories on a flight on Thursday evening was to remain in detention, police said.
According to Hebrew-language media reports, the woman, who arrived from Thailand, told the Interior Ministry’s Population and Immigration Authority that she came to the occupied territories to participate in a conference connected to the deputy mayor.
She presented authorities with an invitation letter she received from the public official, which was also signed by him. Reports said the conference did not actually exist.
The Haaretz daily reported that authorities found on her phone indications that she intended to come to the territories for prostitution.
According to a Globes financial newspaper reporter, the woman told authorities: “He told me to just say all the time that I was coming to an educational conference related to security systems, and emphasized that I should say that I’m not really supposed to know what will be at the conference.”
Police were also investigating whether the deputy mayor provided forged documents to other Ukrainian women as well, Haaretz reported.
The occupied territories saw an influx of Ukrainian refugees arriving in the initial months of the conflict in Ukraine. In August it was reported that nearly half of the 33,000 Ukrainians who fled to the occupied territories, have since left.