Police arrest dozens for alleged arms, drug trafficking following year-long undercover operation

A civilian undercover agent helped cops arrest dozens of people this morning on suspicion of weapons and drugs trafficking, police say, revealing a covert operation that had been taking place over the past year.

The agent, who was recruited by the police’s Lahav 433 major crimes unit, gathered evidence against the suspects, who were allegedly involved in illegal firearms trafficking and dealing cocaine worth hundreds of thousands of shekels.

According to Lahav 433 commander Manny Binyamin, the agent had been a “powerful criminal figure” whom police “transformed into a strategic evidence-gathering asset at the heart of Israel’s underworld.”

The agent carried out over 30 controlled transactions with the suspects, leading police to acquire 18 handguns, three M16 assault rifles and over 1.5 kilograms (3.3 lbs) of cocaine, police say. Binyamin says the staged deals implicated over 50 suspects involved in illegal weapons trade within the Arab community.

Police say that this morning, Israeli security forces, including police and Border Police officers, raided suspects’ homes across the country and arrested 48 people. The detainees, suspected of firearms and drug trafficking, conspiracy to commit a crime and additional offenses, will be brought today to the Rishon Lezion Magistrate’s Court, where police will request to extend their remand.

Senior officers involved in the case, including Deputy Commissioner Avshalom Peled and Investigations and Intelligence head Boaz Blatt, attended a ceremony unveiling the agent’s undercover operation this morning. Peled calls police’s use of undercover agents “an inseparable part of the Israel Police’s uncompromising war against serious crime.”

“This includes confronting criminal organizations, violent disputes and the trafficking of illegal weapons that often end up in the hands of both criminal and terrorist actors,” he says.