After about 10 months of covert investigation, Israel Police launched a nationwide operation on Monday morning targeting criminal elements suspected of extorting protection money from building contractors under the guise of providing security services.
The operation, dubbed “Guardians of the Shadow,” involved some 500 police officers and Border Police officers and resulted in the arrest of 50 suspects, police said. Officers from Lahav 433’s Northern Protection Unit and the Coastal District’s Central Unit led the investigation, which was carried out with the State Attorney’s Office.
“This morning, we dealt a significant blow to the protection racketeers operating across the country, who turned the fear of business owners and contractors into a source of income,” Supt. Lior Harari, deputy head of the interrogation division in the Coastal District’s Central Unit, said in footage released by police.
Protection racketeering, as Harari explained, means exploiting the distress of someone who fears harm to themselves, their family, or their property by demanding or receiving something one is not legally entitled to.
Tens of thousands of shekels were extorted from each site
According to police, the suspects allegedly forced contractors and business owners to use their sham “security” services, and those who refused to pay found themselves under threat, with their property at risk. In practice, police suspect, no security services were provided, while tens of thousands of shekels were paid for each site.
In other words, the “guards” were allegedly the very threat they claimed to protect against.
The investigation began with suspected extortion in northern Israel and grew to include about 15 separate cases across the Coastal, Northern, and Central districts, Israeli media reported.
Contractors were allegedly made to pay between NIS 8,000 and NIS 15,000 (about $2,500-$4,800) a month for each construction site, with some paying for several sites at once, Walla reported, citing police. Investigators found sites where monthly payments were collected even though no guards or security measures had ever been deployed, and even where guards were present, some lacked the required permits, according to the report.
Among those arrested is a sitting council head in northern Israel, who is suspected of running one of the security companies that allegedly provided the accounting cover for the payments. Owners and managers of other security companies are also among the suspects, according to Walla.
Investigators also gathered evidence of arson and theft at construction sites, according to Walla. Officers said it was still too early to estimate the total amount of money collected.
Most of those arrested are directly or indirectly linked to the Abu Latif, Sawaed, Hamdun, Hariri, and Khaldi crime organizations, as well as to local gangs, Walla reported, citing police. Officers described the money collected from contractors as “the fuel and oxygen” of the crime organizations, because of the cash flow it allegedly provides them.
Contractors cooperated widely with the investigation
Unlike in previous cases, contractors cooperated widely with the investigation, helping police gather evidence against the suspects, according to the officers.
Police did not say how many contractors were targeted or where the construction sites were located.
The suspects were taken for questioning at the offices of the Coastal District’s Central Unit and Lahav 433, and they are expected to be brought before the Haifa Magistrate’s Court later on Monday for a remand hearing. Two judges have been assigned to the hearings, Walla reported.
“Our message is sharp and clear: We will not allow criminals to collect a fear tax from citizens who simply want to work and earn an honorable living,” Harari said. “We will get to them, expose the extortion mechanisms, and act to dismantle their criminal infrastructure.”