Importers and customs officers busted by undercover cop at Ashdod Port over bribes, illegal smuggling

Dozens of importers and customs officials have been arrested on suspicion of facilitating years of illegal smuggling of goods into the country via Ashdod Port in exchange for bribes, police and the Tax Authority say in a joint statement.

The raids cap 4.5 years of undercover operations, with police having inserted an agent codenamed “Jack Sparrow” into the customs mechanism of the port, in what was police’s longest-ever agent operation.

In 2020, the force had the agent become a customs inspector, and over the years he received repeated bribes of tens or hundreds of thousands of shekels from the suspects and was asked to lie about the content of goods entering the country, including illegal weapons and dangerous and unauthorized products. In some cases, this enabled money laundering and tax evasion worth tens of millions of shekels.

The suspects are now being questioned, and will later be brought before a judge.