10 members of Abu Latif crime clan indicted for murdering cousin of Druze city’s mayor

Prosecutors submitted indictments against 10 members of the Abu Latif crime organization who are accused of planning and carrying out the murder of the cousin of the mayor of the northern Druze town of Maghar.

Farid Ghanem’s cousin and right-hand man, Petin Kiesel, was murdered on March 9 in an attempt to intimidate the mayor and influence his policies, a statement by Israel Police and the Shin Bet security service says.

According to the statement, the assailants drove a stolen vehicle to the gym where Kiesel was working out. When their lookouts spotted him leaving, the gunmen followed him and fatally shot him, the statement reads.

Ten residents of northern towns who took part in planning and carrying out the murder were arrested last month, the statement says.

Police and Shin Bet agents confiscated 46 weapons of various types during the investigation, they say.