Wednesday evening at Ben Gurion Airport. Flight QS1284 from Prague lands in Israel. About 200 passengers disembark, hurry to passport control and then to the baggage carousel. Among them is a resident of Be’er Yaakov in his 40s, an ordinary man with no criminal record.
But undercover detectives from Unit 747 of the Israel Police, who have blended in among the passengers from the moment they left the plane, spot “nervous movements and behavior that immediately raised suspicion.
A few minutes later, he collects his suitcase. “That’s when we stuck to him,” said Superintendent Amit Barzilai, the unit’s commander. “We identified ourselves as police officers and discreetly escorted him to the inspection room. The surprise was huge. Inside the suitcase were eight pistols.”
The passenger showed little emotion. He said he had arrived from Germany via Prague and claimed he had bought “flare guns for myself and as gifts for friends.”
The weapon in question can cause injury by firing flares or tear gas and is therefore defined by police as a firearm in every sense. The maximum penalty for importing a handgun is up to 15 years in prison. In April 2024, an amendment to the Firearms Law set a sentence of up to five years in prison for importing a “replica firearm,” such as a starter pistol used at athletic events, which can be converted through a simple mechanical process into a lethal weapon no less dangerous than any handgun on the market.
Investigators from the Ben Gurion Airport police district heard the suspect’s version of events, and on Thursday he was brought before the Rishon LeZion Magistrate’s Court, where police requested an extension of his detention to investigate and determine the final destination of the weapons. The pistols were sent to the forensic laboratory so a weapons expert could determine whether they are indeed capable of causing injury.
The suspect’s attorney, Ofer Almog, argued that under current law the eight pistols do not meet the legal definition of firearms. The court released the suspect to six days of house arrest. Police appealed to the district court, but the appeal was rejected. Almog said “the court reached a reasoned decision that is legally sound.”
'A father returned with his son, who was about to be drafted. The child knew nothing about the smuggling, but the father was nervous and they were stopped. It was heartbreaking to see a father use his son to project the image of an innocent passenger'
Despite the legal dispute, Barzilai said police are awaiting the forensic report that will definitively determine how the seized pistols should be classified. “There is pride and satisfaction that eight pistols will not reach the street,” he said. “Even firing a flare at close range or tear gas can cause serious injury to anyone who is hit.”
Investigators hope to formulate an indictment against the suspect, who told police that while abroad he saw “a stand selling flare guns next to pistols that were more dangerous and more expensive. I know that today in Israel there are shops in Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion and Ashdod where you can buy them without a license.”
Arrests at passport control and in the middle of the street
Unit 747 was established in 2007 as an intelligence and detective unit within the Ben Gurion Airport district of Israel Police’s Central District. The unit includes about 30 male and female detectives working undercover. Its primary mission is to identify and intercept couriers smuggling drugs, weapons, protected wildlife or any other prohibited items into Israel.
“Every innocent-looking passenger could be a courier bringing in drugs, weapons or something else,” Barzilai explained.
The unit works closely with Customs officials, the Airports Authority security division and police units nationwide, which rely on it when their targets are landing or departing. Unit detectives operate in small teams in the airside areas and passenger halls, especially arrivals, escorting flights they have profiled from landing through baggage claim and sometimes all the way to a taxi or parking lot.
In some cases, police have precise intelligence about a passenger en route to Israel with “drugs of any kind, weapons or other prohibited items.” In those cases, the work is more focused. Detectives prepare for the flight’s arrival and follow the target throughout the entry process.
“Sometimes we decide to make an arrest even before passport control, but usually we let them collect the suitcase and then stop them,” Barzilai said. “In some cases we even escort a suitcase or air shipment suspected by Customs, pose as delivery couriers and provide door-to-door service that ends with an arrest.”
That is what happened about two weeks ago, when unit detectives and Customs investigators intercepted more than a kilogram of the date-rape drug GBL that arrived by air mail from China. “The detectives posed as couriers and brought the package to the destination. The young man signed for it, turned to go back into his house and was arrested in the middle of the street on suspicion of importing a date-rape drug.”
In other cases, like Wednesday’s arrest, detectives rely on one of their core tools: behavioral indicators known as “suspicious signs.”
Chief Superintendent M., a veteran of the unit whose playground has been Ben Gurion Airport’s passenger halls for 20 years, explained: “This is where the skill and experience of undercover detectives come in.”
To an outside observer, he and his colleagues look like ordinary passengers returning home after a long flight. “Just imagine how many acts of horror we prevented in the dozens of times we seized quantities of date-rape drugs, cocaine and heroin,” he said. “One drop in a young woman’s drink is enough for her to lose judgment and become a victim of rape. Ten kilograms of cocaine seized at Ben Gurion becomes 30 or 40 kilograms on the street after it’s cut.”
“What passes through Ben Gurion enters the country,” he said. “Every kilogram of drugs I seize here saves dozens of police officers and detectives in the field from working around the clock to catch dealers.”
Command Sergeant Major M., 51, married and a father of four, calls himself “the hunter.” “I’m talking to you and my eyes are scanning 360 degrees. It’s second nature,” he said as he stood near the baggage carousel. “Even when I go to a restaurant or a mall with my wife and kids, I can’t disconnect. It’s ingrained in me to read people through body language.”
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‘How can you bring in a drug that ends with women being raped?’ Seizure of GBL at Ben Gurion Airport
(Photo: Israel Police)
During a single shift, tens of thousands of passengers may pass by him. “But I know how to focus my vision among the hundreds around me at any given moment in the arrivals hall,” he said. “Someone smuggling something illegal, like drugs, will struggle to control their body language and will project suspicious movements.”
Sometimes, he said, detectives deliberately create a provocation. “Suddenly, a uniformed officer will stand along the path from the plane to the baggage carousel, or join the crowd around the conveyor belt. Someone who knows they’re smuggling something illegal that carries a prison sentence will instinctively show tension and discomfort. That’s the moment we spot them and stay on their tail.”
M. calls it “the Yemeni step,” the way a person reacts physically the moment they see a uniformed officer. He recalled one courier who said he took tranquilizers to control his movements and stress. “It didn’t help. His movements still gave him away.”
Another case stayed with him: “An elderly man over 80, a Holocaust survivor, who was caught smuggling at Ben Gurion.”
“For us, every passenger, a minor or an elderly person, a woman or a man, a family, a father with a child, could be the courier we’re looking for,” he said. “Criminals study us and improve their methods. They look for exactly the person who doesn’t look like a smuggler.”
‘At the moment of arrest, the courier realizes he is alone’
The criminals themselves are never on the front line. Often they recruit people in financial distress who are tempted by courier work. The couriers do not know who runs the network, only who sent them on the mission. Criminals factor in the possibility of seizure and confiscation. At that point, the courier realizes he is alone, facing the police and a potentially long prison sentence.
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An East Jerusalem resident was caught trying to smuggle 2 kilograms of gold bars on a flight that landed from Dubai
(Photo: Israel Police)
“I recently caught a 17-year-old who told me, in pain, that the electricity had been cut off at home and he smuggled drugs to bring money to his family,” M. said. He also recalled two yeshiva students who were tempted by easy money and paid $2,000 to return with suitcases full of drugs.
Barzilai recalled a case that still troubles him: “A father returned with his son, who was about to be drafted. The child knew nothing about the smuggling, but the father was nervous and they were stopped. It was heartbreaking to see a father use his son to project the image of an innocent passenger.”
“The couriers we catch come from every segment of society, with no criminal record,” Barzilai said. “Their motivation is economic hardship. They tell themselves, ‘Just once.’ When they’re caught, the price is devastating. Families are destroyed. A prison sentence tears a family apart.”
One high-profile case was the “pink suitcases” affair. Four women in their 20s flew to Berlin and returned with 15 kilograms of cocaine and ketamine. They posted party photos from Berlin on social media. When they landed in January 2023, Unit 747 detectives were waiting for them.
A few months ago, an East Jerusalem resident was arrested after raising suspicion. In the inspection room, police discovered he was wearing a ballistic vest with pockets sewn inside containing two kilograms of gold bars. In 2025 alone, police have seized about 350 kilograms of drugs worth millions of shekels and more than 600 weapons, most defined as replica firearms that, Barzilai said, “can be converted into lethal weapons with a simple action.”
In May, ahead of the State Cup final, a young man from Rehovot returning from Greece was caught smuggling 158 flares in his suitcase, items banned from football stadiums. Unit detectives, who also rely on surveillance cameras covering the airport, also work to stop attempts to smuggle unauthorized foreign workers and cases in which airport employees exploit their access to smuggle goods.
Standing next to M. was Sergeant N., a young officer who joined the unit just three months ago. “I served as a Border Police combat soldier,” she said. “My mother works at El Al and knew the detectives. She suggested I join this classified, challenging unit. It’s like extracting a suspect with tweezers from thousands of people. Crazy work, high adrenaline.”
Of all the seizures, she said, the one that angers her most as a woman is the date-rape drug. “How can someone, for money, bring in a drug whose end result is women being raped? One drop in a drink is enough for a woman to lose the ability to resist. Think how many drops are in every liter seized at Ben Gurion. How many women we saved from becoming prey.”