Four suspects in Petah Tivka car bombing appear in court

None of the four men are major organized crime figures or investigative targets of Israel Police, rather “members of a local gang,” police say.

By BEN HARTMAN
A car bomb exploded in Petah Tikva, killing two. (photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL POLICE)
A car bomb exploded in Petah Tikva, killing two.
(photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL POLICE)
Four suspects in a Petah Tikva car bombing that left two men dead Monday morning appeared in court on Tuesday, where they were ordered to be kept in custody for a week.
Police also released for publication the name of one of the victims, 44-year-old Shahar Shamur of Petah Tikva. The second victim is yet to be identified.
The four men, whose identities cannot yet be published, include the owner of the car the two men were driving in Monday morning.
None of the four men are major organized crime figures or investigative targets of Israel Police, rather, what Central District Police referred to on Tuesday as “members of a local gang, involved in a local feud.”
Officers said the men could be connected to bigger crime figures in the district but there is nothing to indicate that the two victims were transporting the bomb on order of any major crime figure.
Police said they are focusing on the indications that the explosion was a “work accident,” because of the time and location of the blast and the identities of the two men.
One of the two men was riding in the back seat of the car when the bomb exploded and it has been reported he was holding the device in his lap when it detonated.
Police said they believe the two men were on their way to affix the bomb on the car of a rival when it exploded on the way there.
The four suspects brought in Tuesday are suspected of being involved in the planning of the bombing, which did not take place, and the attainment and or construction of the bomb.
Shamur was convicted in 2006 for being part of a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine to Israel.
He and a second defendant, Lev Koblentz of Lod, conspired to ship 1.7 kg. of cocaine from Brazil to Israel, but the package was intercepted by customs authorities during a layover in Germany.
Both men were arrested not long after the package arrived at a post office in Holon.