Undercover agent operation leads to drugs trafficking bust

Cop spent several months among group of alleged criminals.

By TAMARA ZIEVE
Police drugs trafficking bust (photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
Police drugs trafficking bust
(photo credit: POLICE SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)
The Israel Police arrested 20 suspected drug traffickers in the early hours of Wednesday morning, following the undercover operation of a police agent in the Haifa area.
The suspects are all residents of Haifa; police raided their homes, seized evidence linking them to the suspected offenses and arrested them.
As part of the the police force's battle against  drugs trafficking, the undercover agent infiltrated the group of criminals and operated among them for several months.
During that time, the agent gained the trust of the suspects, and was active in their surroundings, acquiring from them drugs including cocaine, ecstasy, hashish and cannabis worth tens of thousands of shekels, collecting the necessary evidence against them.
During the arrests, cannabis, hashish and ecstasy were seized as well as tens of thousands of shekels allegedly obtained by the the sale of drugs and other property related to trafficking offenses; two vehicle were also seized and may be confiscated.
The suspects were set to be brought to the Haifa Magistrate's Court to extend their detention. Police expected to make more arrests.
At a ceremony held before the arrests were made, police presented Police Commissioner Roni Alsheich with achievements of the Hof District Police Unit since the beginning of the year, with a focus on the activities of undercover agents - police said this was the fourth undercover operation that exposed criminal activity and led to a wave of arrests.
District Commander Major General Peretz Amar said, "the work of agents constitute a significant part of preventive measures and through activity of this kind it is possible to remove a significant amount of crime generators that harass the normative citizen."
Alsheich highlighted that every initiated operation it preferable to a responsive one as it allows for a high level of control over eliminating criminal incidents taking place on a daily basis.
"The police will continue to employ a variety of operational and intelligence means, in order to combat serious criminal phenomena, in order to enable a normal and safe life for law-abiding citizens and to bring to justice the perpetrators of the offense," the Hof District police spokesman said.