Swastika found on shipment from London

Israeli, British authorities investigating Nazi symbol spray-painted on container transferred on British Airways cargo flight to Israel

The Israel Airports Authority and the Transportation Ministry's security unit have launched an investigation into a swastika spray-painted on a shipment which arrived Saturday at Ben-Gurion Airport on a British Airways cargo flight from London, Ynet learned Tuesday.

The Nazi symbol was discovered by shipping and handling workers, who filed a report with their supervisors. The IAA briefed the British Airways headquarters in London on the matter.

The plane returned to Britain the same day, but the cargo envelope with the swastika was left in Israel for investigation purposes.

"This is a very serious incident," said a senior IAA officials. "We are treating it just like an infiltration of a hostile – or at least unauthorized – element into cargo transferred to Israel. It's still unclear if the person who did it is one of the employees or an external element."

As part of the investigation, the Israeli authorities plan to use the documentation of security cameras which followed the transportation of the cargo, in a bid to rule out the possibility that the symbol was spray-painted at Ben-Gurion Airport, on Israeli soil.

A British Airways official said in response that the company viewed the incident as extremely severe and that a thorough investigation had been launched.

An IAA official said that "the container has been documented and the matter has been handed over to the airport's security unit for further investigation."