Police crack kibbutz drug-smuggling ring

Ten people involved in sneaking liquid cocaine into Israel in wine bottles.

By YAAKOV KATZ
wine bottles 298.88 (photo credit: Tel Aviv Police)
wine bottles 298.88
(photo credit: Tel Aviv Police)
Police have cracked a drug-smuggling ring that operated out of a kibbutz in the Galilee and allegedly transported liquid cocaine inside wine bottles from South America to Israel, according to a report released on Monday. Three weeks ago, police were alerted by German customs authorities who discovered that wine bottle addressed to Israel contained not wine, but liquid cocaine that could later be processed into powder cocaine and sold on the street for tens of thousands of dollars. A Tel Aviv Policeman disguised as delivery man delivered the bottles to their intended address which turned out to be the Herzliya home of Idan Dotan. The police continued tracking the bottles and discovered that Dotan sent them to his father's home in Kibbutz Gesher-Ziv in the north. Police arrested Dotan, his father Ron and his mother Talya. Seven other suspects were also arrested by police. After interrogating the family members, police discovered that Ron Dotan - the father - made connections with drug manufacturers in Argentina and would smuggle liquid cocaine into Israel either by airmail or by sending friends of his on vacation to South America where they would then be asked to bring back the bottles of "wine." The bottles would then be sent to the family home in Gesher-Ziv where Talya would chemically change the drug from liquid form to powder. Police said the Dotans had run the drug smuggling ring for several years before they were caught and would transfer the drugs to known Israeli crime families across the country for distribution.