Israeli believed to be behind 1,000 threats in two years
Police believe the young Israeli man behind a wave of international bomb threats and scares against Jewish institutions became addicted to the rush the ensuing panic aroused.
According to Chief Superintendant Meir Ohayon of the Israel Police's cyber unit, New Zealand police requested assistance in tracing the source of the calls last September.
After getting the relevant details and conducting a preliminary investigation, Israel Police informed their counterparts from New Zealand that they believed that source of the calls was Israel. "At that point, the hunt for the Israeli 'hacker' who drove the world crazy was on," said Ohayon.
According to investigators, the suspect employed a variety of techniques to avoid detection, including using different computers connected to grids in different regions of the country and an antenna enabling him to connect to wireless networks far from his home.
The tactics initially proved successful, with investigators zeroing in on areas in southern Israel where the calls seemed to be originating from, only to come up empty handed.
Eventually, police managed to narrow down the whereabouts of the suspect and noticed under surveillance that he rarely left the apartment. After being sufficiently confident they had their man, police invited American representatives to join in the arrest.
"His method was very simple," said an officer involved in the investigation. "The moment he saw that his message caused panic, he kept going on and on. It excited him."
(Translated and edited by Fred Goldberg)
