5 alleged members of Abergil gang arrested in J’lem

Police suspect that the crime ring had planned to carry out a major attack in the near future.

By MELANIE LIDMAN
police search, search dogs, suspect_370 (photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
police search, search dogs, suspect_370
(photo credit: Thinkstock/Imagebank)
Jerusalem police arrested five men on Thursday morning who allegedly belong to the Yitzhak Abergil organized crime ring.
The men are suspected of conspiring to commit a crime and possessing deadly weapons. According to the suspects, they were planning to take revenge on a Jerusalem resident, who owed the group money. The resident was known to police from previous incidents.
The suspects followed the advice of Abergil, who is currently incarcerated in the US, of hiding weapons in public buildings so as to deflect any suspicion from the group.
Two days ago, police discovered a weapons cache, including guns and bullets, inside a storage room in an apartment building on Hebron Road in Jerusalem.
Parents of one of the suspects live in the building.
Upon further searches of the suspects’ homes, police discovered ceramic bulletproof vests that had bullet holes and other signs of violence.
Police suspect that the crime ring had planned to carry out a major attack in the near future.
The suspects were remanded on Thursday afternoon in the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court until next Tuesday.
Yitzhak Abergil and his brother Meir, two of Israel’s most notorious crime bosses, were extradited to the US on January 13, 2011, to stand trial on charges that include ordering a murder, money-laundering, extortion and dealing the drug Ecstasy.