Play Pokémon Go, find…a weapons cache?

A boy found M16 rifles and ammunition hidden near the Dimona nuclear reactor while searching for virtual game characters.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In a stroke of luck, a boy stumbled upon a significant weapons cache near the Dimona nuclear reactor while playing an augmented reality game on his phone, i24News reported Sunday.

In Pokémon Go, players use their phones’ GPS and camera to find, catch, and battle virtual Pokémon characters overlaid onto the real world in order to earn points.

Players explore real-life locations, which serve as PokéStops to gather items or Gyms for battles.

In this case, the boy was with his family enjoying the good weather Saturday at Mamshit National Park.

While looking for a virtual box of Pokémon on the cliffs at the edge of the park, “a few hundred meters from the most sensitive site in the country,” military reporter Inon Shalom Yttach said, he found a hidden cache of very real weapons: three fully equipped M16 rifles, a pistol, rifle and handgun magazines, and a military vest.

“This was a ready fighting station,” Yttach said, that people could start firing from “at any moment.”

The family immediately called the police, and the security services removed the weapons, searched the area and launched an investigation to find the culprits.

The prevailing assumption is that the weapons were stolen from an IDF base by criminals who were not necessarily nationalistically motivated.

Theft from IDF bases has been a problem for years, especially in the Negev.

In the south, mainly organized Bedouin gangs have even conducted large-scale raids, driving off with dozens of rifles and grenades and tens of thousands of bullets at a time from base armories.

Military-grade components for explosives, including detonators, night vision equipment, bulletproof vests and gear for special units have also been taken.

In a major heist last September, at the height of the war in Gaza, 18 containers full of such weaponry were stolen from an infantry training base in the Negev.

The weapons are both sold to criminal organizations throughout Israel and smuggled into the Palestinian Authority to be used in terrorist attacks.

Authorities consider the rampant theft a serious national security and public safety threat, and the military and Israel Police have initiated joint operations over the years to combat it.

The IDF has also invested millions in security upgrades on its bases, including biometric scanners, improved locks, and additional surveillance equipment.