Fugitive murderer returns to Israel nearly a decade after fleeing to Argentina

Moshe Ben-Ivgi lands in Israel some 9 years after police began process of extraditing him for murder of cab driver.

By BEN HARTMAN
Moshe Ben-Ivgi in Israel 370 (photo credit: Police Spokesman's Office)
Moshe Ben-Ivgi in Israel 370
(photo credit: Police Spokesman's Office)
A fugitive Israeli convicted of an infamous murder arrived in Israel Wednesday evening, almost a decade after he fled to Argentina during a prison furlough.
Moshe Ben-Ivgi, 34, landed at Ben- Gurion Airport escorted by two Argentinean police officers some nine years after police began the process of extraditing him to Israel from South America.
He was transferred to Nitzan Prison in Ramle for processing.
Ben-Ivgi was convicted – along with Arbel Aloni – in 1994 for the “thrill kill” murder of cab driver Derek Roth, who they gunned down with a revolver shortly after entering his cab in Herzliya on January 9, 1994, when they were both just 14.
Both teens were sentenced to 16 years in prison, and were then re-arrested in 1998, after they committed a violent armed robbery of a Herzliya kiosk during a prison furlough. The two were sentenced to an additional five years in prison. Despite the objections of police and prison officials, Ben-Ivgi was given another furlough in May 2004, during which he fled Israel on a fake passport and made his way to South America.
Israel Police filed an international arrest warrant for Ben-Ivgi and in November 2004 he was arrested by Argentine authorities. Thus began a lengthy extradition process, during which Argentina refused to extradite him unless Israel agreed that upon his return he will only be sentenced for the armed robbery, and not the murder, which took place when he was still a minor.
Roth’s 1994 murder shocked Israel, not only because of the young age of the assailants but also do to the lack of a motive and the randomness of the crime.