Palestinians 'planned to poison diners'

The suspects allegedly contacted Hamas by e-mail

Israel is holding three young Palestinians from East Jerusalem on suspicion of plotting to poison diners at a café in the city.

Two of the men, who were arrested in August, are also suspected of planning to mount a suicide bomb attack.

We tried to stop all possibilities but we didn't think of this

Ronen Rimon
restaurant-owner

They were charged in the Jerusalem district court on Monday with making contact with the Hamas militant group and collecting information on how to poison food and make a suicide bomb belt.

Neither of the accused has submitted a plea, while the third man in custody - a cook at the café allegedly to be targeted - has yet to be charged.

Prosecutors say the two men charged - 23-year-old Sufian Bakri Abdu and 22-year-old Moussa Mohammed Nasser - contacted Hamas through the internet and received orders for terror attacks as well as recipes for poison.

Police said they made the arrests after one of the accused visited a chemist's to buy a packet of Digoxin tablets, a heart medicine which can be fatal if an overdose is taken.

In its original plant form, Digoxin was used as a poison in the Middle Ages, prosecutors said.

According to the indictment, the drug is colourless, odourless and tasteless when dissolved in fluid and gives the impression that the victim has died of a natural heart attack.

'Experiments on cats'

Prosecutors say that the third man arrested, 22-year-old cook Othman Kianiya, worked at Café Rimon, a popular restaurant in the city centre.

The restaurant's owner, Ronen Rimon, said he had had no reason to suspect his staff.

"We had checked and asked about the workers but no one saw any problems with them," he told Israeli radio, adding that he had imagined other forms of attack but not poison.

He was allegedly meant to dissolve the tablets in drinks served to customers in jugs.

According to police investigators, Mr Kianiya proposed trying out the poison on cats.

The alleged plot began to collapse after Mr Abdu had difficulties preparing the poison.

He contacted his Hamas handler and asked to be put in contact with explosives suppliers from the group. Hamas in turn e-mailed Mr Abdu instructions on how to make bombs.

He and Mr Nasser were about to carry out a suicide bomb attack when Israeli security agents arrested them, investigators said.