For the first time in Judea and Samaria, eight 3D printers were found producing weapons in the Judea Regional Brigade—each one with a unique internal mechanism that allows the printing of live-fire weapons.
Three weeks ago, IDF Combat Engineering forces spotted something unusual during a routine counterterrorism activity to confiscate weapons in the Judea Regional Brigade. In accordance with precise intelligence, the soldiers entered the location where weapons were stored and confiscated 3 pistols, a rifle and various other weapon parts.
The soldiers realized the weapons were in fact printed after finding 8 3D printers, 65 printing filament spools and printing plans.
Commanding Officer of the 601st Combat Engineering Battalion, his name: “These are entirely functional weapons. After closer examination, we saw they contained components that enabled them to cause harm. It was truly a digital Lathe.”
Recently, times have been particularly tense in the area of the Judea Regional Brigade, among other reasons, as Palestinians who conclude their secondary education examinations (“Tawjihi”) celebrate by shooting into the air.
As part of an effort to reduce the risk to local residents following this tradition as well as reduce terrorist activity in the region as a whole, IDF troops that are operationally active in the area conducted 42 weapon searches and 36 arrests over the course of the past 5 months.
“This is a phenomenon that we have yet to encounter. We will increase the intelligence effort regarding this issue and continue to conduct extensive counterterrorism activities in the region. Our work begins with staying vigilant as we handle this issue to ensure it does not harm residents in the area.”
