Jerusalem, 18 August, 2025 (TPS-IL) — An undercover investigation of the Israel Prison Service in cooperation with the Israel Police led to the indictment of 10 prisoners and a drug dealer in the south of the country on charges of attempting to smuggle illicit drugs into a prison by bribing a prison guard.
During the month of July, explained the Israel Police, a prison guard received what was described as an unusual request from a detention center in the south of the country, which led to the launch of an investigation in which an agent of the Prison Service’s undercover unit was deployed as a prison guard who operated in a criminal prison – as opposed to a security prison for terrorists. Some of the prisoners investigated belong to reputed criminal organizations and they wanted the undercover agent to purchase dangerous drugs for them and smuggle them into prison, in exchange for bribe money.
During the operation, evidence was collected, including from meetings held with an alleged drug dealer in several locations in the south of the country. At each meeting, large sums of money were handed over to the agent, as well as various types of drugs, including hashish, suboxone pills and other substances intended for introduction into prisons.
As the investigation progressed and the evidentiary infrastructure against all those involved was consolidated, the main suspect in drug trafficking was arrested in the city of Ashkelon. In addition, 10 former prisoners were re-arrested and interrogated.