For more than a week, the country has been in turmoil following the arrest of four young girls, after 15 kg of ketamine and cocaine drugs were found in their bags. The large amount of drugs, compared to the photos showing the innocent appearance of good girls, made the affair very publicized. At this stage of The investigation, it has not yet been finally clarified for whom they acted, who financed the purchase of the drugs and who was supposed to receive them, but the working assumption is that a person who belongs to a criminal organization is behind the smuggling.
Will the police be able to get hold of him? It is not clear, but one thing is certain: the case The one in which young Israeli girls go after the promise of the big money that lies in drug rackets is light years away from being a private case. According to estimates by sources familiar with the drug smuggling market in Israel, many hundreds of young people in their twenties are recruited every year by criminal organizations and used as racketeers.
The amount of drugs smuggled into the Republic of Bulgaria is at least a ton per year, with only a few percent being caught.
Now they also understand - it wasn't worth it (photo: photo processing, documentation on social networks according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)
How do the criminal organizations recruit drug lords?
How much money is paid to a peddler for the service and how does the Israel Police manage to mark out of the millions of people passing through Israel those who are most likely to be carrying drugs? We set out on a journey into the world of peddlers in Israel.
The common profiles of drug dealers in Israel
"Just as there is a human resources manager in a company who deals all day with recruiting personnel and filling positions, so also in criminal organizations in the field of drugs, there is not a day that goes by when an Israeli is not offered to be a belder. It is the thousand house of drug smuggling, looking for the duck (a code name in the criminal slang for a belder - D.R.), which can be ducked," D., a criminal who knows the world of smuggling in depth, tells us.
According to him, there are several typical profiles of balladers they are looking for, the first being young girls and boys, after the military, without a criminal record and preferably also those who have served in combat units or in significant positions.
"They must look 'good', without dreadlocks, without a suspicious appearance, like the successful son of the neighbor. Before the Balder is hired - performs the same function in the criminal organization, he is thoroughly checked," he explains, "of course, they want to reduce as much as possible the possibility that he will be caught , because a lot of money is involved there. For example, let's say it's the smuggling of 10 kilos of cocaine. Its purchase in Peru amounts to 40 thousand dollars, but you also have to pay the one who packages the drug, the one who delivers it, finance Balder's stay, and other additional expenses . It easily reaches 100-150 thousand dollars, so every case of seizure causes economic damage."
The second profile, which is often recruited, is ultra-Orthodox boys and girls.
"Not in all cases do they tell that ultra-Orthodox guy what's in the suitcase. Many times they work on him and tell him, for example, that it's cigarettes or jewelry, so that he'll be more 'vocal' at the airport and won't start blushing at the inspection," says D.
Indeed, quite a few ultra-Orthodox young men have found themselves in the interrogation rooms in recent years after being caught dealing drugs.
Examples?
A serious indictment was filed at the Lod District Court against Baruch Klein, the grandson of a former member of the Knesset from Torah Judaism, after he was caught in Israel with a respectable amount of cocaine. During his interrogation by the police, he first said that the suitcase belonged to an Israeli couple who asked him to deliver the suitcase to them in Brussels due to being overweight - but he later admitted that it belonged to him and that he received it according to the instructions of his operator. In another case, a young 23-year-old ultra-orthodox guy was caught with no less than seven kilos of cocaine in his suitcase, worth over 6 million shekels.
Go do profiling and locate suspects with queues like this at the airport (none of the people photographed have anything to do with the article, the photo is for illustration only) (Photo: ShutterStock)
Before we continue to dive into the rest of the profiles, it should be noted that every serious criminal organization that deals in drug smuggling offenses has a certain function, whose main function, if not the only one, is to locate them on the ladders.
"Many times the person locates the same wanderer abroad, a young man or woman who has run out of money to continue traveling and receives a very lucrative offer.
And again, in many cases the young man is not told what is in the suitcase.
In my opinion, in most cases they don't know it's drugs, the same goes for quite a few ultra-Orthodox people."
The third profile is actually women in their third year. "You'd be surprised, but there are many cases where a boy or girl gets into trouble and comes to the mother and tells her that if she wants to save the child, to transfer Something inside the suitcase," explains D., "There are also women who have reached retirement age and have no savings.
The criminal organizations are champions at finding them."
Along with these common profiles, the headhunters among the criminal organizations know very well how to locate also young guys who are entangled in debt and desperately need money, or those who dream of the big money that will be obtained in a short time.
For example, a few months ago, Mor Abramovich, a 32-year-old cook from Migdal Ha'emek, was arrested, who was asked by police in the National Guard to submit to an inspection, during which approximately 11 kilograms of cocaine and ketamine, worth approximately 15 million shekels, were found in his bag.
In his investigation he said that he had accumulated debts of tens of thousands of shekels to a cannabis dealer.
"I'm afraid for my life that something will happen to me... It's about a debt of NIS 30,000," the guy pointed out, "Two people took me in a car and started threatening me. Then I acted out of fear and mental stress, in the end I did what I had to do. I was scared about my life and I don't want to mess with people like that. I was afraid they would hurt me."
How much money does Balder make?
Let's start with the bottom line.
Balder usually earns a low amount in relation to the depth of the risk.
This amount ranges from a few thousand shekels to tens of thousands of shekels, depending on the scope of the smuggling.
"A lot of young people think that they are going to make the hit of their life, but that is not true," the same source who is familiar with the drug smuggling business points out to us, "to get rich you have to cheat regularly, and this already greatly increases the chance that you will be caught."
At the same time, according to him, "I know balders, 25-year-old kids, who have made serious money in balders. They fly every two months, put 10 kilos of cocaine in their suitcase and receive 50,000 shekels, in addition to a budget for waste they are given and financing for the vacation and the hotel abroad."
A one-time trip will result in a lighter punishment, but you shouldn't rely on it.
Adv. Ofer Rasho (Photo: Liat Mendel)
At this point we must stop and point out to those of the readers who think this is a profitable deal, because freedom has no price.
The punishment that is often imposed on drug dealers is harsh.
Attorney Ofer Rasho, one of Israel's top attorneys in the field of criminal law and white collar crimes,
explains that the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance stipulates a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison for importing a drug into Israel.
"The Supreme Court has ruled a large number of times that the offenses of importing dangerous drugs are very serious. The strict punishment policy required, as a rule, for these offences, and in particular when it comes to cocaine, which is known to be a hard drug, is a long prison term."
At the same time, the reality shows that the courts in Israel often do not sentence the accused to the maximum sentence.
why?
How is it possible that in a case where there is unequivocal evidence of the commission of a crime in a hard drug smuggling case, lighter sentences are handed down?
"Generally speaking, the work of sentencing includes an examination of the defendant's part in importing the drug, whether it was a one-time trip, the nature of the drug and its weight, the actual damage caused - whether the drug was actually seized or distributed, evidentiary difficulties, the degree of involvement, the degree of cooperation with the authorities And more," notes Adv. Rasho.
Thus, for example, an appeal was filed to the Supreme Court by a young man, who was convicted of importing a kilo of cocaine to Israel, and for that he was sentenced to five years in prison. As part of the appeal, the young man claimed that the court did not give sufficient weight to the circumstances of his life The hardships, including the positive rehab process and the lack of a criminal record. It is further argued that, in view of the fact that he was determined to have a mental disability of 100%, his method should distinguish this case from others. At the end of the day, his appeal was accepted and it was decided to limit his imprisonment to 30 months, minus the days of his detention Along with this, there are many other cases, in which the court took a heavy hand on the convicted and sent them to a prolonged period behind bars.
The organizations know very well how to route activity (Photo: ShutterStock)
What prison term should you expect, if you fail to convince the court that there is room for a dramatic reduction in your sentence?
Two young men who were convicted of importing 10 kilos of cocaine into Israel, were sent to 12 years in prison.
In another case, a young man who was convicted of smuggling a similar weight of cocaine, was sent to prison for 10 years.
But I didn't know it was drugs.
Does the common argument 'hold water' in court?
Every second balder caught claims to his investigators that he was in fact taken advantage of and didn't know it was drugs.
The question is, what weight does the court attribute to this claim?
Regarding common defense claims, one must first differentiate between claims of "exploitation" and claims of "coercion" and "coercion", notes Attorney Rasho. According to him, during over 20 years of representing defendants, also in the field of drugs, most of the time, when talking about "exploitation" The most common claim is 'I didn't know it was drugs, I thought it was...' or 'I was asked to do a favor to a friend and transfer...' and other claims in these contexts.
In order to deal with claims of this kind, the doctrine of 'turning a blind eye' exists in Israeli law, which is actually a normative legal determination equivalent to awareness in practice: a person who suspected the nature of the behavior or the possibility of the existence of the circumstances is considered to have been aware of them, if he refrained from clarifying them.
In the literature it is usually called 'intentional blindness'.
in fact,
On the other hand, Adv. Rasho adds that the court ruled that "not every suspicion requires investigation and it is required that the suspicion be of that particular person subjectively and that this suspicion be real and practical on his part".
How do the police manage to catch the drug lords?
As mentioned, every year dozens of drug smugglers are caught, which raises the question, how does the Israel Police manage to mark among the mountains of passengers at the airport, precisely those who carry the drugs in their luggage or on their bodies (sometimes also inside their bodies).
The answer to this is divided into three.
Drugs found in a minor's pencil case, this week (Photo: Israel Police spokeswoman)
human intelligence.
In every police station there is a function of intelligence coordinator which is considered one of the essential functions in it.
It stores classified information received from the field, either from detectives or from information sources, whistleblowers, etc.
Reality shows that when it comes to a young man who decided to import drugs himself and sell them, it is much more difficult to get hold of him, but many times the drug dealer is only one of many functions in the supply chain of the drug.
"The information can come from abroad, specifically from the person who supplied Balder with the drug, or from a competing party that tipped off or tipped off the police," B., a former intelligence coordinator, tells us. The purchase of the drug or the one who is supposed to receive the drug in Israel, begins to investigate and eventually reaches the Balder as well. In addition, there are dozens of seizure cases that occurred due to the 'big mouth' of the Balder, certainly when these are children or boys who throw a word to a friend."
artificial intelligence:
A customs narcotics unit is stationed at all entrances to Israel and operates in intelligence and operational cooperation with the police. The unit consists of 50 investigators, most of whom are veteran customs employees who have undergone several YSM courses and advanced drug training, and received an appropriate security classification.
In recent years, a highly sophisticated artificial intelligence system has come into use.
This is about the 'Profiling' system, which operates in Israel and is based on AI. It is a computerized algorithm with artificial intelligence connected to government databases and independently indicates, based on a statistical forecast, which of the citizens entering Israel may be a drug dealer. The Israel Police forcefully refuses to provide in-depth information Regarding the way the system operates, however, according to publications, the algorithm extracts concrete information, among other things, on the socioeconomic status of those passing through the field, while cross-checking the data and using additional information drawn from government information systems, such as the servers of the Ministry of the Interior, Welfare, etc. In addition, the unit Of course makes use of dogs specially trained for drug detection purposes.
Unit 747:
This is a small and classified police unit with only a few dozen detectives and its job is to prevent drug smuggling into Israel - through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some define her as the 'big brother', due to the depth and quality of her observation of fetuses in Israel, as well as in light of her analysis capabilities and decision-making on which passenger to adopt.
Will the criminalization of the person who sent the Balder help him in terms of the severity of the punishment that will be imposed on him?
In principle, the answer is yes, notes Adv. Rasho, but he qualifies: "In this context, there is a sort of oscillating movement between the degree of exploitation of that Balder and the degree of his cooperation with the authorities.
When dealing with a skilled bludgeon who has not been caught for the first time in his life, whose innocence is from him onwards, the tendency to consider him if he incriminates lower ranks in the chain will be lower.
On the other hand, when it comes to an innocent scammer who stumbled on a one-time trip due to financial hardship and the latter incriminated his senders, the tendency to consider him will be great.
In any case, regarding the incrimination of others, the more the Balder can incriminate a higher rank, it seems that the tendency to consider him will increase.
On the other hand, in drug importation offenses there is a lot of compartmentalization and most of the links in the chain are not aware of each other, so in practice the extent of the ability of the innocent balder to practically assist the law enforcement authorities in convicting the leaders of the pyramid is not high."
Failure to assess risk.
Prof. Yossi Yas'our (Photo: Yehats)
One of the first thoughts that arise after the public is exposed to the case of the runaway girls, is what went wrong in their decision-making process or in other words - how did they not fear the fatal consequences of their possible capture with such a large amount of drugs.
With this question, we reached out to Prof. Yossi Yassour from the Department of Business Administration at the Rupin Academic Center who specializes in the field of decision theory, who among other things wrote the books "Logic and Emotion in Decision-Making and Risk-Taking" and "The Decision to Murder - A Book on Leading Processes".
"There was a failure to assess the risk from the point of view of those girls, as well as among other ballers, which comes against a background of hubris - a strong feeling of 'it won't happen to me,'" notes Prof. Yassur, "it is a toxic compound of greed, with disregard for risk, However, unlike, for example, a murder that is carried out due to an emotional motive, the decision to transfer drugs is completely in the field of economic benefit. The failure to assess the risk also stems from a lack of understanding of the consequences - they do not understand what reality they might find themselves in if they sit in prison, so the failure also exists in assessing the result of their actions."
Along with these words, Prof. Yassur points out that the Israel Police is failing in the explanatory aspect: "If the police had advertised that they had sophisticated means to catch panhandlers, we would have seen a decrease in the scope of panhandlers, similar to a sign that warns of a speed camera."
And perhaps, finally, in this context it is worth noting a sign that greets tourists at the Singapore airport: "
Of money
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drug smuggling