CACHE OF ARMS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 66, Issue 248, 1 August 1946, Page 6

CACHE OF ARMS

DISCOVERY IN TEL-AVIV

(Rec. 12.30 p.m.) LONDON, July 31. Land-mines, arms, British Army uniforms, and forged bearer bonds on the Palestine Government were discovered in a basement in a Tel-Aviv synagogue when British droops searched the building to-day. The explosives included “parcels” constructed to explode when the brown-paper wrapping was removed. They were stated to be big enough to wreck a small house. A portable radio was included in the military equipment. A Church of England padre of the Gth Airborne Division led the troops into the synagogue. Suspicions were aroused by several packed kitbags, and closer inspection revealed the cache. The police superintendent of the Lydds district, Lieutenant-Colonel Bennet Shaw, ' told the Associated Press: “I do not believe we have caught any big fish in the round-up yet, but we are only halfway through the search.”

Haganah used to co-operate with the British authorities in Palestine, and once warned them that two rocketbombs, trained on the King David Hotel, were hidden 'in a field a quarter of a mile from the hotel, said Mr Crossman in the House of Commons. He added that the British authorities, using mine detectors, were unable to find them. Haganah kidnapped a member of Irgun Zvai Leumi, and by some means got the information of their whereabouts -from him. * Three .times Haganah intelligence warned the British security authorities that the King David Hotel would be assaulted from the inside, and all the warnings apparently were disregarded.