Senior police officers believe that escaped rapist Benny Sela is currently in the Sharon region, based on what they consider credible testimony from several people who claim to have seen him.

Police officials explained that all of these witnesses' reports included details about Sela's behavior and speech that the police know to be true, but which are not known to the general public.

	Advertisement

As a result, police will concentrate their manhunt in this area - even though one senior officer admitted that the rapist could well have left it by now.

The police also recently obtained their first intelligence information about Sela since the rapist escaped nine days ago. This information is not sufficient to pinpoint Sela's location, police officials said, but it does increase the prospects of catching him.

To date, some 2,000 policemen have been participating in the hunt for Sela, at a cost of about NIS 100,000 per day. Major General David Tzur, commander of the police's Tel Aviv District, has said in closed meetings over the last few days that about a third of this manpower would be sufficient, but that Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi had ordered him to use every available individual to show the public that the police were taking the manhunt seriously and thereby help restore the public's faith.

Meanwhile, the Yaron Committee continued its investigation into Sela's escape on Friday by hearing testimony from Tzur about the various police failures that enabled the prisoner to flee, and about the generally poor performance of the Tel Aviv District's prisoner escort service, which has let four prisoners escape in the last year.

Karadi and Israel Prisons Service Commissioner Ya'akov Ganot will testify before the committee tomorrow or Tuesday.