Police: IDF Soldier claiming to have escaped kidnapping was lying

Soldier from Beit Jann tells police that three men attempted to force him into vehicle in Lower Galilee; police say story fabricated.

By BEN HARTMAN, YAAKOV LAPPIN
IDF soldier [file] (photo credit: REUTERS)
IDF soldier [file]
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Police suspect a soldier fabricated a story of having escaped an attempted kidnapping in the Lower Galilee on Sunday, hours after he first underwent questioning.
Moshe Weizmann, spokesman of the Northern District police, said that while under questioning the soldier made several different unsubstantiated claims “and told stories that had no basis, leading us to suspect he may have made up the story.”
Weizmann added that investigators did not yet know what motive the soldier might have for making up the story, saying they passed the case over to the Military Police for further investigation.
Police set up roadblocks and dispatched a helicopter into the skies over the Galilee on Sunday after the soldier, a resident of Beit Jann, said he had been waiting at the Hamra junction when three men in a white car tried to force him into the vehicle. Police said the soldier had told them he managed to get away, escaping through an olive grove.
In the initial hours of the investigation, police said they were not able to confirm that the attempted kidnapping had taken place, but that they were taking it seriously regardless.