3 young women sentenced for trying to smuggle over NIS 2 million worth of drugs from Europe

By Charlie Summers

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6 January 2025, 5:19 pm

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Four women suspected of trying to smuggle 15 kg 933 pounds) of cocaine and ketamine from Germany into Israel, arrive for a court hearing in Lod on February 2, 2023. (Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90)

The Lod District Court sentences three young women for attempting to smuggle over NIS 2 million ($550,000) worth of cocaine and ketamine from Europe.

The so-called “Pink Suitcase Affair” involves four young women — Arbel Mizrahi, 24, Idan Tsauber, 24, Orel Ben Haim, 24, and Lee Poni, 22 — who attempted to smuggle some 15 kilograms (33 pounds) of contraband into Israel from Berlin and Budapest in 2022-2023.

The three sentenced today — Mizrahi, Tsauber and Poni — receive considerably lighter sentences than the prosecution had demanded, as part of a plea bargain signed last year.

Presiding Judge Merav Greenberg also takes into account the defending attorneys’ claims that their clients expressed remorse for their actions and agreed to undergo rehabilitation and treatment.

The fourth defendant, Ben Haim, refused to agree to a rehabilitation process in her plea deal and is currently serving 34 months at the Neve Tirza women’s prison in Ramle.

Greenberg sentences Mizrahi, who is already set to spend 11 months in jail after being thrown out of the treatment facility she enrolled in as part of her plea deal, to 22 additional months.

Tsauber and Poni are sentenced to nine months in jail alongside community service, and were each fined NIS 33,000 ($9,000).

Gabi Pe’er of the Central District Attorney’s Office is considering appealing the sentence, the Ynet news site reports.