Land registration error led to extortion of one million shekels: "Your children first, then you"

A bureaucratic error in registering a plot of land in Iksal deteriorated into extortion threats and an attempt to collect protection money totaling one million shekels. Police arrested three suspects, and in a recording one is heard threatening the victim: "Your children first, then you." An indictment will be filed today.

A bureaucratic error in registering a plot of land in the village of Iksal near Nazareth deteriorated into a series of threats and an attempt to extort protection money (protektzia) in the amount of one million shekels. Following an investigation by Northern District police, the Northern District Prosecutor's Office will today (Thursday) file an indictment in the Nazareth-Nof HaGalil Magistrate's Court against three northern residents, aged 32, 36, and 50, from Iksal and Nazareth. The affair began with a report received by police regarding threats against a local resident and his family. According to investigation materials, following the registration error that placed the plot under the victim's name, the suspect whose name the land was supposed to be registered under turned to the "services" of a crime family. The suspects demanded monetary "compensation" from the victim and even summoned him to a meeting to arrange payment. When he refused to cooperate, a campaign of harassment began, including throwing grenades at his home and those of his relatives, along with threatening phone calls. In a recording revealed by police, one of the extortionists is heard threatening: "Now instead of paying 700, you need to pay a million... If you don't pay, you'll lose one, two, three, and still you'll pay instead of a million, two million... You have until tomorrow afternoon. If you don't respond... your children first, then you."