700 SIM cards in a warehouse apartment: This is how the cannabis messages that flooded Israel were sent

According to the police, an officer in the IDF's technological unit headed a drug trafficking organization "on an unprecedented scale." Three machines were stored in Bnei Brak, including hundreds of SIM cards - each of which can send about 5,000 text messages. Diagnosis, there is a huge economic gain here "

Shlomi Heller

14/07/2022

Thursday, 14 July 2022, 17:48 Updated: 18:02

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In the video: The police located the "machine" used to distribute text messages for drug trafficking (Photo: Israel Police spokeswoman)

Millions of drug trafficking messages were sent to Israeli citizens via three large machines in a warehouse apartment in Bnei Brak, each with about 250 SIM cards.

"From each card, about 5,000 text messages can be sent, which makes it possible to send 5-4 million messages in a very short period of time," explained Corporal Ariel Raveh, head of the investigation department at Lahav 433's cyber unit.

Further

investigation "

Drug trafficking "on a large scale seen in Israel."

During his interrogation by the police, the suspect claimed that a person we did not know had hired text distribution services, but did not have that person's phone number.

A representative of Lahav 433's cyber unit said in a court hearing today that "we have reached developments, even breakthroughs, in the investigation of the case, when we witness the phenomenon of drug trafficking to an extent that in my opinion has not yet been seen and by unused means."

According to him, in the four days of detention that have passed, "we carried out dozens of investigative operations, with the work of several investigators over 12 hours a day, with very great intensity and indeed the operations bore fruit."

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• Minister Yoaz Handel announced: "We are going to go to war against the phenomenon of cannabis and phishing messages"

"Drug trafficking by unused means."

The texting machines (Photo: Israel Police Spokeswoman)

Capt. Raveh stressed that the messages were also sent to minors, which in his eyes is the most serious part of the affair. Which is evolving every day. "The police estimate that this is a" distribution of millions of messages, if 5% of those who received them purchased drugs, we reach hundreds of thousands of repeat purchases.

"There is a huge economic gain here, if someone allows himself to buy the machines, whose value is estimated at one hundred thousand shekels.

"

"We were able to get our hands on two drug dealers who appeared in the same messages and another drug dealer, we filed two indictments, and the third was sent under house arrest. In the meantime, we continued the activity to locate the other involved,

More on Walla!

"Cannabis for every pocket": Police seized the machine responsible for sending the annoying messages

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Tags

• Cannabis

• Israel Police

• texts

• Drugs