A lawyer from Beit Shemesh was arrested Tuesday on suspicion of trying to smuggle 30 pills believed to contain cocaine to an inmate during a prison visit.
Investigators suspect she arrived to meet an inmate recently arrested in a well-known fraud case. During the meeting, she allegedly hugged him and passed a bag into his hand.
Lawyer suspected of smuggling cocaine to inmate during prison visit
The exchange was captured by the prison’s security cameras and is expected to form a central part of the investigation.
The arrest followed a joint operation by officers from the Central District’s Sdot police station and the Israel Prison Service.
The suspected drugs were seized immediately after the meeting and transferred to forensic laboratories for testing.
Both the inmate and the lawyer were questioned. The inmate gave investigators his account, while the lawyer denied the allegations against her.
She was taken into custody at the end of her interrogation. Police were expected to bring her before a court Wednesday and request an extension of her detention.
Deputy Commissioner Yossi Doron, commander of the Prison Service’s central investigations unit, said authorities were working to close every route used to smuggle drugs into prisons.
“We are acting to shut down all channels used to bring drugs into prisons: drones, visitors, garbage compactors, which were also used in an attempted smuggling operation several days ago, and any other method exploited for smuggling,” he said.
“When lawyers, who are supposed to be part of the law enforcement system, are suspected of exploiting their status to bring drugs into prisons, that is crossing a red line,” Doron added.
He said two lawyers had been arrested over the past two weeks as part of joint operations with investigative units.
“We will continue acting decisively against every attempt to smuggle drugs into prisons,” he said.