Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery (archives)
Photo: Michael Kramer
23kg hashish found in Tel Aviv cemetery
Following report of drugs being hidden in graveyard, police hide out to catch suspect. Man caught red handed while digging up drugs confesses to ownership
Police officers seized a large stash of 23 kilograms (50.7 pounds) of hashish in a rather unexpected place Thursday night – the Nahalat Yitzhak cemetery in Tel Aviv.
A 23-year-old man was caught red handed while digging up the drugs, was arrested and confessed to owning the hashish.
Crime Beat
Yuval Yoaz
Data by National Police Headquarters show high increase in trafficking, smuggling in 2008 compared to 2007, with hundreds of kilograms of drugs entering Israel from north, south, east, airport
Police received information on Thursday that drugs were being buried at the cemetery and detectives arriving at the scene managed to locate some 4.5 kilograms (9.92 pounds) of hashish in a hole in the ground.
The officers, who decided catching the drugs wasn't enough, planned to catch the person who was hiding them. They returned the hashish to the hole, and hid out nearby to wait and see who would come and retrieve it.
Several hours later a man showed up at the cemetery, and much to the officers' surprise, began digging in another spot. When the man finished retrieving the drugs, police discovered that he had buried 19 kg of hashish in one spot and 4kg in another.
The man was taken in for questioning and admitted that the drugs were his. The suspect will be brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court where his remand is expected to be extended.
