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A senior security official for El Al and a former Shin Bet official were arrested on Monday on suspicion of smuggling large quantities of cocaine to Israel on board. El Al planes.
The police arrested a total of four people suspected of playing a role in the international drug smuggling network, which a police prosecutor called "a vast affair".
The details of the case were revealed on Monday after a Rishon Lezion trial court judge dismissed, during a pending hearing, a request from the police to gag the details of the case. their investigation. The four suspects were sentenced to remain in detention.
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The main suspect was Rami Yogev, a senior El Al official who oversees coordination between the airline and the Shin Bet security service. He is also responsible for the security of the company abroad.
Police believe Yogev has used his main security clearances and access to El Al aircraft to facilitate drug shipments.
The former Shin Bet leader has been identified as Beno Shalom, who was previously chief of security in the prime minister's office.
The police did not specify the extent of Shalom's role in the smuggling operation.
Yogev, Shalom and the other two were arrested on Monday after drugs were found in the hand luggage of one of the suspects, who had just arrived by a flight from Johannesburg.
"It's a big and diverse affair," police attorney Nadav Rappoport told judge Guy Avnon at Monday's hearing. "The suspects have smuggled large quantities of drugs into Israel using complex methods."
Rappoport said the investigation was in its infancy and had told Avnon that the police's suspicions against Yogev were "more serious" than against the rest of the suspects.
Avnon ordered that Yogev, Shalom and the third suspect be remanded for nine days. The fourth was sentenced to a three-day detention.
In its decision, Avnon stated that there were "reasonable suspicions that bind [Yogev] to the offenses "- given his role and high rank – and rejected the police's request to keep the details under nausea.
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