Two bodies found burned in car near Ramle in suspected double murder
The vehicle belonged to a resident of the North who was known to police.
By BEN HARTMANBurnt car in which two bodies were discovered near Ramle(photo credit: ISRAEL POLICE)
A long-running feud between rival gangsters led to the murder of two members of one of Israel’s most powerful crime families in Israel last week, police said Friday evening.The bodies of brothers Hilmi and Murad Karajeh were found late Wednesday night shot to death inside of a torched BMW SUV on the side of a road near a power plant off Route 6 south of Ramle. Both men were so badly burned that it took until Friday for their bodies to be identified.Both lived in Afula and were members of the Karajeh crime family, which is based in the city of Harish near Umm el-Fahm.The Karajeh family was originally based in the Jawarish neighborhood of Ramle, home to the Jawarish crime family. In the late 1990s, after years in which a blood feud between the two Beduin clans left dozens dead, the Karajehs agreed to leave Jawarish, and relocate to Harish. Today, the crime family stretches across the North, is a force to be reckoned with in Netanya and has interests in the Center and southern Israel.The clan makes their money mainly off protection rackets, drugs and illegal firearms dealing, and is one of the most feared organizations in Israel.Police said that they did not believe that Hilmi and Murad were in Ramle on any sort of Karajeh family business or that they were killed because the family is trying to muscle back into their old stomping grounds.The double murder is currently being investigated as a personal feud between rival criminals, and while there have been no arrests, police do have suspects.
