Double homicide in Beersheva was 'arranged from jail'

Hired guns paid 1000 shekels by Russian mob figure each to carry out shootings, police say, as 'revenge for brother's beating.'

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
Police in Beersheba announced the arrest of three alleged hired killers on suspicion of shooting a man and a female acquaintance dead in the southern city last August.
The bodies of 24-year-old Moshe Ahayav and Veronica Ko were discovered in Ahayav’s apartment with gunshot wounds on the night of August 18.
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Homicide detectives from the Negev Police subdistrict’s central unit said Thursday that the shootings had been carried out as revenge for an incident that took place shortly beforehand.
In that incident, Ahayav visited a friend who worked at a kiosk in Beersheba’s Old City and became involved in a verbal confrontation with a group of people who were arguing the price of a drink with staff. Blows soon followed, and Ahayav administered several to one of the members of the group.
The man who was beaten turned out to be the brother of an inmate at the Eshel Prison in the South, who is considered a major figure in the Russian mafia, police said.
With the help of a state witness, detectives traced the order to kill Ahayav to the inmate, who allegedly offered the assassins NIS 1,000 each to carry out the shooting.
According to the allegations, the assassins set out from Bat Yam and Tel Aviv to Ahayav’s address, broke in and shot him dead. After being seen by Ko, the suspects shot her dead, too.
A total of eight people were arrested for the double homicide, including the three alleged killers and a number of individuals suspected of abetting the shooters.