Attackers of US students still at large

Tiberias police confident fugitive criminals will be apprehended.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Tiberias Police are continuing efforts to apprehend three people from the Haifa Bay area who are wanted in connection with a brutal assault on a group of American students at a Lake Kinneret beach last month. "They are on the run, and they are considered criminal fugitives," Tiberias Police chief Dep.-Cmdr. Efi Partuk told The Jerusalem Post on Monday. "We are trying to speed up the process," Partuk added, stressing that intelligence was being gathered on the suspects. Partuk said every police force in the country had been alerted to the suspects' fugitive status. "Any officers who come across them and run their ID number through the system will be notified that they are wanted for an investigation," Partuk said. "It's just a matter of time. I am confident and hopeful we will apprehend them." Following the assault on June 29, Isaac, a 21-year-old American student who sustained a range of injuries in the incident, flew back to the US, where he is recovering. Despite efforts by others on the beach to apprehend the attackers, the suspects managed to flee after telling police officers who arrived on the scene that they had been the victims of the attack. Officers noted the license plate numbers of the suspects' vehicles before telling them to pull over further down the road. The suspects have not been seen since, and have not returned to their homes since the incident. One suspect arrested after the assault was released, and will likely stand trial for his role in the attack, Partuk said.