State prosecutors filed charges Sunday against three Turkish citizens accused of smuggling guns into Israel and entering the country illegally. One of the defendants, Oktay Asci, was also charged with providing the means to commit a terrorist act.

The three were part of a larger arms trafficking network run by a Turkish national residing outside of the country, who in 2023 helped smuggle Asci into Israel to work in construction, prosecutors said.

Members of the network purchased firearms from an Iranian arms dealer and smuggled them into Jordan, from where they were then spirited into Israel by workers entering the country, apparently in an effort to arm terrorists within Israel and the West Bank.

The Shin Bet has warned in the past that Iran, particularly over the course of the recent war with Hamas, has been engaged in an ongoing effort to undermine Israeli security by smuggling guns into the country, with the aim of arming terror cells.

According to the charges filed, Asci had joined the arms trafficking ring before he was deported in July 2025, after spending some two and a half years in the country. He recruited the other two defendants, Younes Ozel and Rahman Gokyer, earlier this year.

Following his deportation, Asci tried in........

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