Israeli police on Tuesday evening arrested the main suspect in the killing of reputed organized crime boss Yanis Yushvaev, ending a two-day manhunt launched after he was gunned down in broad daylight near Caesarea.
The suspect, described as an older man, was found hiding in a storage room inside an apartment building in Hadera and did not resist arrest. Police said a utility knife was found in his possession. Intelligence pointing investigators to his location had been received about 24 hours earlier.
The killing of reputed organized crime boss Yanis Yushvaev
The investigation was assigned to the Coastal District’s Central Unit, which had been searching for those involved in the killing since Sunday.
Police said that intelligence received in recent hours indicated the suspected assassin was in Hadera and may have been carrying a handgun. Because of the risk that officers could come under fire during the arrest, commanders assigned the operation to Yamam, Israel’s elite national counterterrorism unit.
Yamam officers prepared for a forced entry, reached the building and surprised the suspect before taking him into custody. He was transferred to the Coastal District’s Central Unit for questioning.
“Following a manhunt and intelligence direction from the Coastal District Central Unit, Yamam fighters operated in Hadera and arrested suspects involved in the murder,” police said.
Yushvaev, an Or Akiva resident in his 40s, was shot at point-blank range Sunday at a gas station near the Caesarea interchange. Security camera footage captured the shooting, and police immediately launched a large-scale search involving roadblocks, extensive searches and a helicopter.
Yanis Yushvaev
He had for years been one of the Coastal District police’s most prominent organized-crime targets and was described by police as the head of a criminal organization associated with Israel’s Caucasus community.
Yushvaev had been repeatedly arrested and linked by police to investigations involving shootings, arson, threats and violent underworld disputes, though many of those cases did not lead to significant indictments.
About a decade ago, he survived an earlier shooting in Hadera and later built considerable influence in the Sharon region. In 2025, a police representative described him in court as the head of a “criminal gang involved in blood feuds.”
His killing on Sunday triggered an intensive police operation to locate those responsible. Tuesday’s arrest marks the first major breakthrough in the investigation.