The owner of a Holon pizzeria was indicted Tuesday for serving police a pizza sprinkled with synthetic marijuana.
Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court heard that an officer from the Tel Aviv District Police working the desk on the night shift ordered a pizza from 30-year-old Simcha Abazov’s “La Dolce Vita” pizzeria in May 2015. When the pie arrived he shared it with two other officers at the station.
Minutes later the three officers began to feel ill, and two of them were hospitalized for dizziness, vomiting and hallucinations.
When police returned to the restaurant several days later to question the owner, he confessed to sprinkling the illegal synthetic cannabinoid, commonly referred to as “Mr. Nice Guy,” on the officers’ pie.
According to the indictment, Abazov obtained the drug from two unnamed men who happened to be at the kiosk next to his store at the time he received the order.
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“I knew the order was placed by police officers,” the owner confessed to police. “But the officer who called in the order seemed cool — plus he told me to add whatever toppings I wanted.”
“So instead of oregano, I sprinkled some ‘Mr. Nice Guy,’” he said.
Abazov was charged with causing others to ingest poison with intent to harm, which carries a maximum jail sentence of three years.
In 2011, “Mr. Nice Guy” and other synthetic cannaboids, which were becoming increasingly popular in Israel, were banned.
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