Two El Al workers held for stealing and selling duty-free items

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
Two El Al employees found a creative way to add to their salaries but their attempts were foiled by police who arrested them on the suspicion they had been systematically stealing from a duty-free warehouse. After receiving intelligence tip-offs, and in cooperation with El Al, the police detained the two employees and, upon searching their belongings, found a large amount of stolen goods. Detectives believe the two would steal from one specific warehouse that contained items ready to be loaded onto planes to be sold onboard as duty-free. Instead of loading the equipment onto the plane, however, investigators said the goods were loaded onto their own vehicles and to be sold on the black market. Detectives added that the suspects earned around NIS 6,000 per week from their scheme. Among the items stolen were a large variety of alcoholic beverages, gifts, expensive pens and perfume. Both suspects confessed to participating in the scheme, and an indictment is forthcoming. More arrests were expected.