POLICE BUST 25 LEADING DRUG DEALERS

It's going to be difficult to obtain just about any
type of illegal drug in Israel for at least the next few months, after
25 of the country's most powerful drug smugglers and dealers were
arrested in a raid early yesterday morning.

Dep.-Cmdr. Yossi Boker, head of anti-drug operations in the Central
District police's central division, said those arrested included a
Rahat resident who reputedly heads a gang of drug smugglers which
supplies over half the Israeli market, and a suspect who boasted that
he smuggled 800,000 ecstasy pills into Israel this year.

Never before have police arrested so many senior dealers at once,
Central District deputy commander Lt.-Cmdr. Dan Ronen said. He noted
that while the Central District carried out the operation, codenamed
"Over the Top," it involved other police districts, particularly the
Tel Aviv and Southern districts.

For the past year, Boker has been heading Operation Endurance, aimed
at eradicating the drug trade in Ramle and Lod. Though the operation
has been relatively successful so far, most of those arrested were
mid-level or low-level dealers who have been easy to replace, police
said. Those arrested in yesterday's operation, which was part of
Operation Endurance, will be more difficult to replace. Yesterday's
operation also damaged the structure of the illegal drug market and
should put a damper on large scale drug operations for a while.

Ronen said that he hopes that the operation also will impact on other
drug-related crime, such as the recent string of drive-by shootings in
Ramle and Lod.

Lt.-Cmdr. Yitzhak Tal, who heads the Central District Police's central
division for serious crimes, said that the division intends to
continue its intensive anti-drug operations.

About three-and-a-half months ago, police cut a deal with a relatively
senior figure in the drug trade. Police described him as a smart
middle-aged man who was born into the criminal world, had spent most
of his life watching his family tangle with police and serve jail
time, and had decided that he wanted to get away from crime. In
exchange for an undisclosed payment, the man agreed to work with
police to gather sufficient evidence to put senior dealers and
smugglers behind bars.

The agent gained the trust of senior dealers who smuggle cocaine from
South America, heroin from Arab countries, and Ecstasy from Europe. He
convinced them that he was going to open up a drug station in the
center of the country. Equipped with lots of cash and surveillance
equipment, courtesy of the police, he bought huge quantities of drugs
from 31 dealers from Ramle, Lod, Ramat, Yavne, Taibe and Tel Aviv. The
deals included buying as much as a half kilogram of heroin in one
purchase for NIS 60,000.

Early yesterday morning, some 500 policemen assisted by drug-sniffing
dogs and helicopters arrested 25 suspects, Central District Police
spokeswoman Ch.-Supt. Sivan Weizman said. They also confiscated a kilo
of heroin, 11 cars and NIS 50,000 and $5,000 in cash. The Ramle
Magistrate's Court remanded the suspects for eight to 10 days.