Man nabbed with 6 kilos of suspected cocaine at airport
Latest in series of large drug-smuggling busts
Police said Monday they arrested a man after he arrived at Ben-Gurion airport carrying more than six and a half kilograms (14 pounds) of a substance suspected to be cocaine.
The man was detained shortly after he landed in the country in a joint operation with police and airport officers.
The suspect, who was taken in for questioning, was to be brought for a remand hearing later in the day.
Police did not say where the man had arrived from.
The bust came after a series of arrests of alleged drug smugglers attempting to sneak illegal substances into the country.
In August, Channel 2 reported that customs officials had arrested two ultra-Orthodox Jewish men at Ben-Gurion airport in possession of seven and a half kilograms (16.5 pounds) of cocaine stashed in a suitcase.
In July officers seized five kilograms (11 pounds) of ecstasy found in liquid form in a man’s suitcase. The drug, said to be worth NIS 2 million ($524,000), was concealed inside wine bottles and absorbed within the walls of a suitcase.
Three ultra-Orthodox Israeli men were also nabbed in July for allegedly operating an international drug trafficking operation after authorities found thousands of ecstasy pills on their person at the airport.