Police filed more than 50 indictments against cashiers working at a Rami Levy grocery store, who are suspected of theft valued at about half a million shekels, Israel Police reported on Friday.
Coastal District Police in Zichron Yaakov began an Investigation in January 2024 following reports of theft amounting to half a million shekels by cashiers and their accomplices at the Rami Levy branch in the mall complex in the city.
Police investigators carried out a variety of overt and covert investigative actions and uncovered the method used by the cashiers. As they suspected, the employees would switch the cash register to a mode where it would emit the sound of a purchase scan without actually processing a charge.
In this way, they allegedly systematically stole products and cash worth approximately half a million shekels over hundreds of transactions in recent months.
The investigation revealed that the pattern involved a member of the group, who served as the cashier, setting the register to 'inquiry' mode. This mode would play the sound associated with scanning a product but would not charge for it.
Other group members or additional accomplices would load carts with products, passing most of them through the register without being charged. Consequently, they paid much less than the value of the products they left the store with or did not pay at all.
Evidence and arrests
Over two weeks, Investigators documented approximately 70 incidents involving Rami Levy cashiers. They then identified the cashiers and arrested them for questioning at the Zichron Yaakov station. At the end of their interrogation, they were imprisoned, and their detention was extended periodically until they were released by the court under restrictive conditions.
By the end of the investigation in May 2024, the police had built a substantial body of evidence against the suspects and their accomplices. Following this, the police, through the prosecution unit, filed more than 50 indictments against the suspects, residents of Jisr az-Zarqa and Fureidis.
"The group operated systematically with a similar execution method that included prior planning and a clear division of roles," the police said in a statement. "This was not a case of random 'pilfering' but something indicative of method, planning, and awareness," noted Judge Yaniv Heller.