The latest casualty in the ongoing skirmish between the Israelis and Palestinians is an underground (literally) casino in southern Israel. On Thursday, police announced they’d uncovered an illegal gambling den operating out of a bomb shelter south of Tel Aviv that had been converted for less protective but far more lucrative usage.
Police spokeswoman Luba Samri told AFP the shelter – originally constructed as a neighborhood refuge from the deluge of Katyusha rockets fired into Israel from Gaza – contained ‘gaming boards and chips’ and documentation listing gambling debts, which led police to conclude the shelter was “a working gambling house.” Police in the city of Ashdod uncovered a similarly converted shelter in July.
In response to the rain of Katyushas, the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command had issued instructions to areas in the line of fire to ensure that their local shelters were properly equipped in case they needed to host a large number of residents for an extended period of time. Police in Kiryat Gat, 20km from the Gaza border, subsequently received a tip that a local shelter had strayed from its original function.
A Border Police K9 unit was dispatched and found the shelter door locked, a violation of IDF instructions. Police broke the door down, discovered the incriminating evidence and arrested a 50-something farmer who owned the land on which the shelter/casino resides. The Jerusalem Post reported that the man told police all the equipment in the shelter belonged to his son.
The shelter also featured a minor marijuana growing operation hidden behind a wall of sheetrock. Police found a small number of plants, a kilo of ready-to-smoke pot, cigarette packs containing “fingers” of hashish plus scales, irrigation tubes, pesticides and other tools of the reefer trade. Samri marveled at the fact that local residents might have gone to the shelter to seek refuge only to find it was now “a casino and clandestine drugs lab.” Although you have to admit, it would definitely help pass the time…
