56 Beitar Jerusalem ultras arrested for criminal activities

The Israeli police have arrested 56 members of the club of fans of Beitar Jerusalem "The Family", accusing them of involvement in violent and criminals throughout the country incidents, sources officers.

The arrests were it carried over last last night by a force of 400 agents and follow a long six-month investigation that included the infiltration of a police officer in the family for over a year and a half, said the police spokeswoman Luba Samri.

Among others, the detainees of "incidents of serious violence, arms trafficking and introduction of prohibited articles and pyrotechnic material in football stadiums" are accused, along with drug trafficking in the case of twelve of them.

Police asked this afternoon in the courts of Acre and Haifa extension of detention of suspected drug trafficking.

Family is a group of ultras of Beitar Jerusalem, marking racist and noted the Jewish identity of his team.

In Beitar matches, it is common hear them chanting slogans like "Death to the Arabs" or "Mohammed is gay".

Unlike other football teams in the country, Beitar is the only First Division that has never had an Arab player.

In 2013 the offices of the Jerusalem team were burned by their fans after it hired two Chechen Muslim players, after what coach Guy Levi expressed strong opposition to hiring Arab players to avoid "tension and damage" to the team .