Equipment found in the possession of an Israeli citizen indicted for spying for Iran. Photo: Israel Police.

An Israeli citizen has been indicted for collaboration with Iranian intelligence agents and a terrorist operative in Lebanon, it was announced on Tuesday.

Israeli news site Walla reported that the unnamed 50-year-old man was arrested following a joint investigation by the Israel Police and the Shin Bet.

The indictment alleges that the man had a relationship with Iranian intelligence agents and a terrorist operative for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine named Khaled Yamani who was based in Lebanon.

When he was arrested, the man was found to be in possession of encryption technology and a scan disc that he attempted to destroy.

The Central District State Prosecutor’s Office indicted the man for contact with a foreign agent, intention to commit treason, delivering information to the enemy with intent to harm national security, destroying evidence, money laundering and disrupting court proceedings.

The indictment states that the man contacted Yamani via Facebook and the two met in Denmark in 2018 and later in Paris. Yamani told him that he was an intermediary for Iranian intelligence. He provided the suspect with encryption technology and told him how to contact Iranian agents when he returned to Israel.

However, the suspect initially destroyed the equipment he had been given and the email address for contacting the Iranians. Afterward, Yamani again initiated contact and set up a meeting with Iranian agents in Budapest. There the suspect agreed to fully cooperate with Iranian intelligence, including by recruiting more spies in Israel. The Iranians provided him with 5,000 euros, which the man later laundered in the West Bank.

Last month, the suspect attempted to send and receive messages to Iran, but was unsuccessful. Shortly after, he was arrested.

The Police and Shin Bet said in a statement released Tuesday, “The results of the investigation indicate the depth of ties between Iran and the Popular Front, and their efforts to carry out espionage and terrorist activities within Israel, even during the global confrontation with the corona pandemic that has spread so intensely in Iran.”

“This investigation demonstrates once again that Iran and its envoys are working to recruit and exploit Israeli citizens for the benefit of Iran,” the statement added.