The Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court acceded Sunday evening to a police request to issue a gag order on details of the ongoing police investigation into the escape of serial rapist Benny Sela.

The gag order was issued even though no real progress has been made in the investigation. However, police sources maintain that media publicity is harming the probe.

The gag order, which does not include regular police activity, was issued after police forces were enraged by a report Sunday morning in the daily Ma'ariv, which claimed that police have a map of Tiberias in which Sela marked various points in the city that he would try to reach.

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Police were furious with the various publications concerning police activity in capturing Sela, and maintain that it harms the cooperative effort to find the escaped rapist.

The search for escaped serial rapist Benny Sela since he escaped 10 days ago has cost an estimated 1,340,000, police sources said Sunday afternoon.

Each day costs the police NIS 134,000, as was reported last week in Ha'aretz.

Senior police officials have said in the past few days that the search is mainly "hot air," and its true goal is to strengthen the public's feeling of security.

The number of officers allocated for the search is not especially large, standing at a total of 2,000 officers.

In comparison, police had intended to allocate 12,000 officers in order to secure the gay pride parade in Jerusalem a few weeks ago.

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.

In Tel Aviv last week, signs were put up calling on the public to join the search for Sela. A private company initiated the advertisement. Police sources said that they only gave the company a picture of Sela, but said they welcome the initiative.

Police: Escaped rapist probably in Sharon region
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.

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.

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.