10 million shekels under the nose of customs: the trick that ended in prison

Haim Cohen, a 51-year-old resident of Ashdod, was sentenced to 34 months in prison and a fine of half a million shekels, after smuggling over 10 million cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates using a fake container, in an attempt to evade paying taxes.

Haim Cohen, a 51-year-old resident of Ashdod, was sentenced to 34 months in actual prison and a fine of half a million shekels, after being convicted of smuggling over 10 million cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates. Cohen used a fake container to evade paying taxes: he presented a false representation that the container carried cling film products worth 78,000 shekels, on which a tax of only 13,612 shekels was paid. He prepared another identical container to the cigarette container, painted yellow and with the same number, which was loaded with cling film. The two containers were moved between storage areas at the Port of Ashdod, with the aim of presenting the fake container to customs inspectors and taking out the real one under cover of darkness. The smuggling was discovered shortly after the container was unloaded. Cohen was charged with aggravated smuggling of goods, use of fraud and deception, and use of forged documents. In addition to the prison sentence, a three-year suspended sentence was imposed on him.