Last update - 00:00 02/04/2007
10-day remand order issued against alleged blackmail ringleader
By Roni Singer-Heruti, Haaretz Correspondent
The Petah Tikva Magistrate's Court has issued a 10-day remand order against Asi Abutbul, under arrest for allegedly heading a blackmail ring. Police also suspect Abutbul of connections with French underworld figures for the same purpose.
Abutbul has denied the allegations.
The police have five additional suspects in custody in relation to the case.
"We have accumulated intelligence information and complaints by individuals who say they have been victims of shake-downs by Abutbul and his people," Chief Superintendent Coresh Bar-Nur, who is heading the investigation, told Haaretz on Sunday.
Bar-Nur, who said the investigation has been underway for six months, said Abutbul allegedly tells his people to terrorize various individuals and their families to obtain money. "They then allegedly launder the money in Israel and abroad," he said.
The police went public after a man lodged a complaint a week ago that Abutbul had attacked him during an argument about money.
Some of Abutbul's alleged victims are apparently French Jews who have recently come to live in Israel and reside in Netanya, Abutbul's hometown. "Abutbul and his people zeroed in on the money," Bar-Nur said.