Police seize rifle barrel and drugs worth over NIS 1.5 million during committee tour
The Special Committee for the Fight against Drug and Alcohol Abuse visited the narcotics unit of the Israel Tax Authority at the mail sorting facility in Modi'in
The Knesset Special Committee for the Fight against Drug and Alcohol Abuse announced on Sunday the seizure of an M16 rifle barrel and a "crystal" drug worth NIS 1.5 million from a mail sorting facility in Modi'in.
The Special Committee which is headed by Likud MK Boaz Bismuth visited the narcotics unit of the Israel Tax Authority at the mail sorting facility in Modi'in on Sunday, according to a Knesset press release.
Bismuth said that it is amazing to see how many borders are breached through which drugs and illegal drugs are smuggled.
During a tour of the facility, Tax Authorities presented the committee with a series of suspect packages. Members of the Special Patrol Unit (Yasam) inspected a package reported to be fabrics, however, a dog alerted the police after smelling the package.
The Special Patrol Unit opened the package in front of the committee members and Tax Authorities. Following an inspection they found inside packages containing a "crystal-type" drug weighing one kilo and with a market value of NIS 1.5 million. The drug packets were sewn into the fabrics, which came from Laos.
During the same tour, another inspection found an M16 rifle barrel as well as one ton of gunpowder sent from the USA.
Increase in drug smuggling
Answering a question from Bismuth, the director of the customs unit, Yigal Malka, said that there had been an upward trend in the seizure of illegal drugs. He explained that this uptick was due to increased technological options available to the unit. Since the Corona era, the post office has been one of the main arteries for smuggling, he said.
Danny Ezra, head of the narcotics division at the Tax Authority, presented to the committee the data on the seizure of narcotics smuggled in mail packages.
According to his data, 6 high-level criminal smugglers were caught. In the years 2020-2023, 1,750 smugglers were caught, including over a ton of drugs. 300 kg of them, a crystal-type drug. 43% of the smuggling was caught using suspicious signals, and 20% by sniffer dogs.
Most of the packages came from the Netherlands, the USA, and Thailand.
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