Morocco extradites criminal to Israel

The Moroccan authorities have extradited to Israel a member of an organised criminal gang who fled from the occupation state four years ago. Golan Avitan, 55, was arrested this morning when he arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in Israel.

According to official Israeli radio station Kan, Avitan is a resident of Ashdod. He was extradited under the agreement signed between Israel and Morocco to cooperate in tracking down fugitives. The broadcaster said that the Moroccan authorities handed him over after he had served a three-year prison sentence in the kingdom for possession of a forged passport.

The Israeli Public Prosecution accuses Avitan of being involved in three murders. He is alleged to have provided explosive devices used in the assassination of Zeev Rosenstein in 2003. “This is just the beginning,” said a senior police source. “Soon there will be more extraditions of Israeli criminals residing in Morocco.”

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Avitan had been arrested for his involvement in the murders and was released to house arrest with an electronic tagging device attached to his ankle after reaching a deal with the Public Prosecution to imprison him for eight years. While he was under house arrest, he removed the device and fled by boat from Ashkelon to Cyprus, and from there he went to Morocco.

An agreement was signed between Morocco and Israel earlier this month allowing police from both countries to cooperate in tracking down fugitives. Under the agreement, the Israeli police will cooperate with their Moroccan counterparts to track down Israeli criminals who flee to the North African country. The agreement was reached during the visit of the Inspector General of the Israeli Police Service, Kobi Shabtai, to the kingdom.

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Israeli media reported that the agreement strengthens cooperation between the Moroccan and Israeli police in an effort to combat the trend of criminals from Israel fleeing to Middle East-North African countries, including Morocco, Turkey and the UAE. Israeli police intelligence sources say that many criminals who fled to Morocco continue to operate their criminal activities in Israel from the kingdom.

Morocco and Israel have intensified their cooperation since restoring diplomatic relations at the end of 2020. That normalisation was part of a tripartite agreement that stipulated US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara, which is disputed with the Algeria-backed Polisario Front.