Israeli crime boss Yossi Mosley was arrested again on Sunday morning, three days after attending his daughter's wedding for which he returned to Israel.
An undercover investigation conducted by the Major and International Crime Investigation Unit (Yachbal) in Lahav 433, led to today's arrest of 45-year-old Mosley on suspicion of threats, extortion by threats, conspiracy to commit a crime and illegally placing an explosive device.
Mosley is suspected of trying to blackmail Jewish businessmen living in South Africa who specialize in the field of cryptocurrency and was involved in placing a stun grenade near the home of one of them when they refused to cooperate with him.
"When they refused to give in to his blackmail, he arranged through his people in South Africa to threaten them and place a stun gun at the entrance to the house of one of them," a police source told Mako, "the suspicions against him are very serious. We have enough evidence against him in this case."
"the suspicions against him are very serious. We have enough evidence against him in this case."
Police source
The investigation was conducted covertly while Mosley was in South Africa since there were difficulties in performing an arrest, police said.
This case is distinct from last week's arrest of Mosely, police told The Jerusalem Post.
Assassination attempt at the daughter's wedding
Mosley, who is considered a head of a criminal organization by Israeli police, was recently released from house arrest to attend his daughter's wedding on Thursday. He was initially arrested upon his return to Israel after a long stay abroad.
During the wedding, over 100 Central District police officers alongside dozens of police vehicles, with the assistance of Border Police, Riot police and traffic division officers, were deployed in the area of the Airport City complex to secure the wedding over concerns of escalations due to such a large concentration of high-ranking criminals and their henchmen.
Over the tense night, two Holon residents in their 20s were arrested outside of the event for an alleged assassination attempt.
The two, who were present at the wedding itself, were arrested at the end of a pursuit that had police shoot at their vehicle as the two attempted to flee from the parking lot of the event while hitting civilian vehicles and ramming a police cruiser.
After they were captured by a combined effort of police and border police officers, drugs, pepper spray, knives and a loaded gun were found on the suspects and in their vehicle, according to police reports.
It is not clear what exactly was the intention of the two, as it seems that one of the suspects even sat at the table with Mosley himself.
Attorney Yehli Sperling and Attorney Doron Noy, Yossi Mosley's lawyers, said that "the person who was arrested is a good friend of Yossi Mosley and even sat with him at the wedding table for several hours. The claims that this is an assassination attempt are false."
The police are investigating the possibility that they tried to take out a person not related to Mosley, against the background of struggles in the underworld.
Initial arrest on suspicion of murder
Mosley is suspected of the murder of Avihai Vaknin who was killed in February 2017 and of the attempted murders of the criminals Itzik Cohen and Yankal'e Amsalem over which he was initially arrested two weeks ago upon landing in Israel.
He heads one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Israel and was already investigated by the Tel Aviv District Police in 2017 as part of the "Arab Spring" case.
Mosley fled Israel to South Africa in 2017, after several of his criminal associates, who worked in cooperation with him, were arrested as part of the investigation.