Tel Aviv, Jul 11 (IANS): The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the police have thwarted an attempt to smuggle weapons from Lebanon, the IDF said in a statement.

The attempt took place on Friday night across the Lebanese border in the area of the village Ghajar in the northwest of the Golan Heights, Xinhua news agency quoted the IDF statement issued on Saturday as saying.

The confiscated weapons include 43 guns worth millions of shekels, the IDF added.

According to Israel's state-owned Kan TV news, the seized guns are worth 2.7 million new shekels ($830,000).

The IDF said it is examining the possibility that the smuggling attempt was carried out with the help of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, and is investigating, along with the Israeli police, the perpetrators of the smuggling attempt.

"IDF troops monitor everything that happens along the border and work extensively to combat the phenomenon of drug and weapon smuggling attempts," it added.

In a previous weapon smuggling attempt on the Lebanese border in June, 15 guns and dozens of kg of drugs worth about 2 million shekels in total were confiscated by Israel.