Four ex-cops under threat from mafia given firearms

Former Nahariya police officers who were convicted for targeting a mob boss in 2006 also given bodyguards; one officer was shot last week.

By YAAKOV LAPPIN
police car 311 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
police car 311
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
Four former police officers from Nahariya who are considered to be under threat from mobsters have been given personal firearms for self-defense, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch announced on Thursday.
The officers, who served time in prison for targeting an organized crime boss with explosives in 2006, have also been given personal bodyguards, following the attempted assassination of one of the officers in Nahariya last Saturday.
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In a statement, the Public Security Ministry said the guns were transferred after the officers were found fit to carry arms.
Eldad Hadad, one of the former officers, is recovering in hospital in moderate condition, and is under heavy security after being struck by three bullets fired by two men. He was shot as he walked near a synagogue in which he prayed regularly.
Hadad, together with colleagues Yaniv Ashur, Yossi Levi and Rami Musawere, was released from prison earlier this year after being convicted of planting explosives at the home of mob kingpin Michael Mor.
The officers were convicted of putting bombs in Mor’s vehicle and the home of his cousin.
The ex-officers said their actions came after Mor ordered his men to throw grenades at their homes, and their pleas for assistance from the police’s senior brass went unanswered.
Ahronovitch has vowed to return the men to the police force.