On video: The sentencing of Yitzhak Abergil (Photo: Yotam Ronan)
Yaniv Ben Simon, who was arrested today (Thursday) in a special operation in Johannesburg, served for years as a confidant of the head of the Yitzhak Abergil crime organization, where he was responsible for drug and violence crimes.
Since 2015 he has been on the run and Interpol has issued an international arrest warrant against him.
Seven years later, he was arrested in an affluent suburb in South Africa, during a special forces raid.
In 2003, Ben Simon was suspected of taking an active part in the planning and execution of the attempted assassination of the criminal Zeev Rosenstein in Plumer Square in Tel Aviv.
After that, he was suspected of having assisted in the escape from the police of Micah Ben Harosh, one of the perpetrators of the assassination attempt on Rosenstein, from Israel to Spain.
A senior criminal who escaped from the police.
Yaniv Ben Simon (Photo: Maariv, Ra'anan Cohen)
Ben Simon is also suspected of involvement in murders and large drug deals as part of his activities in the crime organization, including smuggling cocaine from Peru to England.
In 2015, Ben Simon fled the country during an investigation into his case as part of the 512 case. Because of this, an indictment has not been filed against him to this day.
So, Interpol placed him on the "Red Alert" list and placed an international arrest warrant on him.
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The right-hand man of the criminal Yitzhak Abergil was arrested in a dramatic operation in South Africa
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The moment of the arrest in Johannesburg, today (photo: official website, from Twitter)
Upon completion of the extradition procedure to Israel and the completion of the investigation in his case - a serious indictment will be filed.
A similar arrest happened at the beginning of the year, when Golan Avitan, a member of Yitzhak Abergil's criminal organization and accused of a series of crimes, was extradited to Israel after fleeing to Morocco in 2018 - and returned straight to the holding cell.
After Ben Simon's arrest, the International Department of the State Attorney's Office submitted an extradition request against him under the European Convention, for the purpose of prosecuting him.
The offenses in which he is suspected are conspiracy to commit a crime, attempted murder and aggravated sabotage, all within the framework of a criminal organization.
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