As part of its war against the phenomenon of infiltration and the smuggling of foreigners into the country, Israel Police’s National Unit for Economic Crime, Lahav 433 in has gone public with an on-going investigation after several months of extensive undercover activity.
In the early morning hours, six suspects were arrested and eight other suspects were brought in for questioning for belonging to a network that smuggled foreigners through Ben-Gurion Airport to the State of Israel and suspected of offenses under the Entry into Israel Law, as well as offenses involving bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
During the operation, the investigators managed to trace the members of the network who were involved in smuggling. According to the suspicions, those involved, each according to his part, joined together over a long period of time and engaged in the smuggling of Georgian citizens into the country.
Members of the network, including employees of companies that provide services to the airport, operated in an organized and methodical manner over a period of time, succeeding in bypassing the security mechanisms at the border crossings at Ben-Gurion Airport, and smuggling Georgian citizens into the State of Israel without passing through the passport and transit control system as required by law. A defined role that helps in smuggling for money while acting to disguise their actions from the eyes of the enforcement authorities.
It is suspected that these groups succeeded in bringing in upto 1000 undocumented foreigners.
The large-scale affair is conducted in cooperation with the Airports Authority and accompanied by the Economic Department of the State Attorney’s Office.
