Police confiscate 30,000 ecstasy tablets

Drugs sent from Europe to Israel intercepted in two incidents; four arrested in connection to crimes.

By REBECCA ANNA STOIL
dog 224.88 (photo credit: Channel 2 [file])
dog 224.88
(photo credit: Channel 2 [file])
Police last month confiscated 30,000 Ecstasy tablets that were sent from Europe to Israel in two separate shipments, authorities announced on Thursday. The catch was the result of a joint operation of the Hof sub-district central investigative unit and the drug unit of the Haifa customs office, as well as other police units in the northern district. In one incident which occurred on November 22, a Belgian package addressed to an 81-year-old Italian tourist staying at a Tiberias hotel was found to contain thousands of Ecstasy tablets. The hotel's manager, 35-year-old Eli Klugman, was arrested after arriving at a Haifa post office to pick up the package. Another man, 55-year-old Oren Mordechai, was arrested under suspicion of importing and smuggling the drugs. The suspects confirmed their connection to the incident and the package. The evidence against them will be submitted to the district attorney's office in the coming days with a recommendation to indict them. The two will remain in prison until next week. In a second incident, a package containing thousands of Ecstasy tablets which was addressed to a Givat Ada resident, 40-year-old Eliezer Goldberg, was intercepted. Law enforcement authorities in Holland identified the package as one containing drugs before it left Europe, and alerted the Haifa authorities. Goldberg and his suspected partner Avi Nishlatti, a 40-year-old Pardes Hannah resident, were both arrested after picking up the package.