Police searched for weapons – and found a Jewish treasure that disappeared 21 years ago

During an undercover operation against arms dealers, Jerusalem district police officers located a valuable Torah scroll case that was brought from Iran and stolen from a synagogue in 2005. The item was returned to the son of the donor, a former Israeli ambassador to Tehran, and it was discovered that it was seized exactly on the Hebrew anniversary of the grandfather's death in whose memory it was dedicated.

Jerusalem district police officers located and returned a valuable Torah scroll case, stolen in 2005 from a synagogue in Jerusalem. The item was seized during an undercover police operation among criminals trading in weapons. An engraved dedication with the donors' names was found on the item, and the investigation revealed that the donor, a former Israeli ambassador to Tehran who donated the Torah scroll to a synagogue in his father's memory, had passed away. The officers located his son, and on Thursday the item was returned to him at the offices of the central unit. An extraordinary coincidence: the date of the seizure fell exactly on the Hebrew anniversary of the grandfather's death in whose memory the Torah scroll was dedicated. Deputy Chief Superintendent Iran Asraf, head of the Special Tasks Division, said that from the moment they understood it was an item stolen over two decades ago, it was clear that the mission would not be complete only with the suspect's arrest, but with the return of the case to the family.