They rented a retired judge's apartment and opened a drug lab there - without his knowledge

The two northern residents were arrested on suspicion of setting up the laboratory in a house they rented in Afula, which is owned by a former vice president of the former Nazareth district court. 950 cannabis seedlings were produced in the police raid, of which the two produced one hundred pounds of drug. "It's very frustrating. I rented the house to a person without a criminal record," the retired judge said

They rented a retired judge's apartment and opened a drug lab there - without his knowledge

In recent years, there has been a widespread phenomenon in the market of rented homes, whereby homes or apartments that have become drug-labs are exposed every week across the country. The houses are rented by their owners who do not even know what the tenants are doing. A case of such a house was uncovered by police earlier this month: Two residents of the north were arrested in an apartment they rented and turned into a small cannabis production plant. The tenants rented the apartment from a retired judge who did not know their intentions and actions.

Police raided the house in Afula and found two young men working on gardening cannabis seedlings. It was a very large laboratory spread over two of the three levels of the house, where no less than 950 seedlings were grown by the two grown at home, which, according to the indictment, produced one hundred pounds of cannabis. An indictment against the two was filed two days ago in Nazareth District Court by Attorney Roba Daka-Meri of the Northern District Attorney's Office.

The venture of the two was so large and invested that according to the indictment the value of the equipment for establishing and operating the laboratory was tens of thousands of shekels. The suspects added air conditioners, transformers, Saturday clocks, blowers, temperature gauges, electronic weight and more so they could set up and operate the lab in their rented home.

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Domestic drug lab located in Tel Aviv (Photo: Tel Aviv District spokesmen)

Two marijuana drug labs were discovered in Tel Aviv, January 2013 (Photo: Tel Aviv District spokeswoman, PR)

Aminoff (Photo: GOV.IL)

When police checked who the property belonged to, they discovered that the property was named after Aaron Aminoff, who until ten years ago was the vice president of the Nazareth District Court. A quick check revealed that the retired judge rented the house to a person who, contrary to the terms of the contract, rented the house on a sub-lease to both defendants. The same person who rented the house from Aminoff and rented it to the defendants is not a defendant in the case despite his alleged involvement.

Aminoff retired 11 years ago. He is considered a strict and strict judge, and at the same time one who is interested in detainees and prisoners' rights and conditions of detention and incarceration. "I was very surprised when I heard about it," Aminoff told Walla! NEWS. "It's very frustrating, because his guy I rented out the house is a man with no criminal record working in the courthouse." He himself had not yet received the house keys from the police and had not yet seen what the defendants had done. Most often, those houses or apartments that secretly change their purpose to drug labs suffer the most serious damage.

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"Distortion of natural fairness rules"

Attorney Shlomi Sharon (Photo: Courtesy of the photographers)

Defendant's attorney, attorney Shlomi Sharon, expressed surprise that the indictment had been filed in the court, which Judge Aminoff served as vice president. According to him, "It is a distortion of natural fairness rules. Every defendant may have his day before the court when he is impartial."

The retired judge is on the prosecution witness list only for the purpose of presenting the lease he made with the sub-lessor. Attorney Sharon said, "An indictment could not be brought to court where one of the prosecution witnesses served as a judge." The prosecutor's office said there was no connection between the retired judge and the accused. He did not rent the house to them and his name appears as a claim only for technical needs.