'Former defense minister's daughter arrested in NYC'

'NY Post': Talya Ben-Eliezer detained at Kennedy airport on outstanding drug charges, to be extradited to Florida.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Handcuffed 260 R (photo credit: Reuters/Benoit Tessier)
Handcuffed 260 R
(photo credit: Reuters/Benoit Tessier)
Police arrested the 39-year-old daughter of Labor MK Binyamin Ben-Eliezer on Wednesday on outstanding drug charges when she tried to fly back to Israel through a New York City airport, the New York Post reported on Thursday.
Police detained Talya Ben-Eliezer – one of the former defense minister’s five children – as she attempted to go through security to board a Tel Aviv-bound flight at John F. Kennedy Airport. She was taken to the Queens central police station, Port Authority police told the New York Post.
Talya told customs officials at the airport that she was the daughter of a senior Israeli official, according to the newspaper.
She was booked as a “fugitive from justice” for a drug offense in Tampa, Florida, dating back to when she was undergoing medical treatment for a seizure condition. According to the report, Florida police issued the “no-bail warrant” last July after she was found to have obtained the powerful painkiller Oxycontin without the proper paperwork.
Talya, who has both US and Israeli citizenship, will be extradited to Florida, where she will face a charge of “obtaining a controlled substance by fraud.”
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer played down the incident. He said his daughter suffered terrible pain from surgery and medicine she took six months ago got her into trouble.
“It’s a joke what’s happening,” the Labor MK said. “She took pain pills. There’s nothing wrong with it. I think they will let her out in a day or two. She is a big girl, and she will be OK.”