Israel Police said Sunday morning that it would issue a police declaration ahead of a court indictment against 12 members of the Abu Latif crime gang, including the leader Latif Abu Latif.
The other figures in the crime gang include managers and other people involved. The Abu Latif group, led by Latif, is run by him and his three brothers, Nidal, Sliman and Ala'a.
The group has, over the years, threatened businesses and contractors in the North. Police crackdowns have been on repeat over the last two years.
According to the prosecution, the suspects threatened several figures, including contractors, who either competed for or won infrastructure tenders.
Additionally, they committed widespread tax fraud and money laundering, according to the prosecution.
Arrests were previously made in February
In February, authorities arrested 38 members of the crime family, resulting in 24 indictments for allegedly using blackmail and extortion to obtain local government contracts. The arrests were made following an undercover investigation conducted over several years that concerned the criminal organization's takeover of tenders from the state, government, local authorities, and senior businessmen by blackmail while carrying out violent extortion incidents and creating a monopoly on performing contract work, police said.
The declaration announcement came following an investigation conducted by the Northern District's central unit and the Lahav 433 National Crime Unit. Police requested an extension of the detention of the twelve criminals.
The other 11 who were indicted are Vicky Attiya, Imran Shakir, Mehdi Ismail, Khaled Sharkia, Salah Gadaban, Abd Khatib, Ahmed Suleiman, Adham Hassan, Salim Shakur, Nissim Amira, and Ashraf Halabi.
The tenders that Abu Latif tried to take control of through blackmail reportedly are worth hundreds of millions of shekels over the years, and can be found in cities and towns including Netanya, Rishon Lezion, Nesher, Jadeidi-Makr, Kabul, I'billin, and Abu Snan, police added.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir wrote on X/Twitter on Sunday, “Zero tolerance for protection offenses.”
When police had made the arrests in late February, it said the goal was to halt the group’s economic activity, which police estimate reaches hundreds of millions of shekels.
Yuval Barnea and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.