Nabbed Israeli gang boss ‘had huge murder, kidnap arsenal’

Yaniv Ben Simon, the Israeli fugitive arrested this week with seven others in the expensive northern Johannesburg suburb of Bryanston, is no ordinary criminal but the second in command of one of Israel’s most ruthless organisations.

Ben Simon, 46, hid out in South Africa for 15 years and managed to evade law enforcement for at least seven of them, allegedly dealing in drugs and amassing an arsenal of weapons.

These included a light delivery truck fitted with a sniper gun port that was fully soundproofed and fitted with a table and a chair. This enabled  the gang to allegedly carry out kidnappings, torture and assassinations.

Among the more concerning items found by the multidisciplinary team led by Interpol SA, Crime Intelligence, Organised Crime, the Hawks and the Special Task Force raiding the Bryanston house was a 70-inch monitor hooked up to street camera surveillance systems similar to those run by private security companies.

The gang also allegedly had access to systems that can read car number plates and it is suspected that they could possibly access City of Johannesburg CCTV cameras.

They were found with other sophisticated equipment such as a frequency jamming device, and four drones fitted with cameras and GPS tracking devices which, according to law enforcement, could have been used to surveil targets.

The Sunday Times has further learnt that the gang is being investigated in connection with at least 12 murders in SA, with sources alleging they were involved in a further seven attempted murders.

Ben Simon is alleged to be the right-hand man of Yitzhak Abergil, head of the Abergil crime family in Tel Aviv. Abergil is serving three life sentences and an extra 15 years in an Israeli jail for drug trafficking and murder. His gang’s criminal empire is believed to stretch from Jerusalem to Los Angeles in the US, South America and other parts of the world.

Ben Simon and his seven alleged gang members face charges of drug possession and the possession of unlawful firearms and ammunition. 

A senior official involved in the sting said: “This is one of the most dangerous men that Israeli police and US agents have been hunting for a very long time. We could not easily trace him because he has been changing addresses. But his arrest could give us a breakthrough in many cases including kidnappings and assassinations in the country.”

The officer told the Sunday Times that the soundproofed sniper truck could have been used in kidnappings. In addition, several motorbikes allegedly used in prominent assassinations in Johannesburg were seized.

“We are analysing CCTV footage from these killings to place the bikes on the scenes,” said one officer.

The raid on the Bryanston house netted 19 firearms including two AK47s with double magazines, a mini Ruger with a silencer, another assault rifle with a silencer, and an array of handguns including a semi-automatic pistol and others fitted with silencers and telescopic sights.

This is one of the most dangerous men that Israeli police and US agents have been hunting for a very long time

—  A senior official

Also found were six motorbikes of which three were positively identified as stolen, eight motor vehicles, one of which was stolen, and a number of loose fake number plates. 

The group was found with two bulletproof vests, two money-counting machines, a digital scale for weighing drugs, laptops, cellphones and iPads as well as stacks of cash including almost $1m, as well as Israeli shekels and rand. They also found 2kg of cocaine.

Ben Simon was being sought by the Israeli police for crimes dating back to 2003 and 2004, including a Tel Aviv bombing in which civilians were killed when the Abergil gang tried to kill rival mob boss Ze’eve Rosenstein. Ben Simon’s boss, Abergil,

was found guilty of his role in the explosion and resultant deaths.  

In 2015 Israeli police placed Ben Simon on the Interpol Red List for the same crime, as well as “the importation of 11kg of cocaine from Peru to England, the importation of 1-million MDMA tablets from the Netherlands to Australia and several drug deals in Japan”, says the notice.

The notice said Ben Simon had been living in Sandton since 2007. 

Ben Simon appeared in court on Friday for an extradition application that was held in camera for security reasons and because of the sensitivity of the investigations. 

Another law enforcement officer who was part of the crackdown told the Sunday Times their investigation began last year after the US Drug Enforcement Agency alerted the police to Ben Simon’s presence in South Africa.

“Unbeknown to us, the Hawks had also been investigating the gang for the past year,” the police officer said.

US officials, he said, established Ben Simon’s whereabouts through an informant.

The informant obtained photographs and videos of the gang with Ben Simon.

“All we knew was that it was a Johannesburg house. We began scratching until Crime Intelligence made a breakthrough in July. An informant got information on a gold Toyota Corolla the gang was renting from a shuttle company to move people, weapons, money and drugs,” said the officer.

The officer said that with crime intelligence agents they began plotting the car’s movements between Randburg, Sunninghill, Morningside, Fourways and the Johannesburg CBD, but they experienced problems tracking it to the Bryanston safe house.

“These guys are pros. They are trained in counter-surveillance. They would be followed and suddenly they would disappear,” he said.

But crunch time came on Thursday when investigators realised their chances of arresting Ben Simon and his gang in a drug sting were becoming slimmer. They decided to act on the Red Notice at the house the gang had rented for R70,000 a month for five years from its US-residing owner.

“We had solid information that it was him inside. It was decided to act now because it was feared they would abandon the house.”

They were shocked at what they found.

“We knew these guys were bombers. We were anticipating booby traps all over the place. We could take no chances and had to go in hard. Thank God we did. With the number of weapons, they could have slaughtered us if we had not,” the officer said.

The officer confirmed they had found a 70-inch monitor in the house hooked up to surveillance systems, similar to those used by private security companies doing street surveillance.

We believe they may have had access to City of Johannesburg CCTV cameras

—  Law enforcement officer

“Alarmingly, they had access to systems that could read and provide details on vehicle registration plates. They could use this to see if cars used by crime intelligence were following them. We believe they may have had access to City of Johannesburg CCTV cameras,” he said.

According to the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, Abergil’s criminal empire dealt in drugs, ran casinos, laundered money and engaged in extortion. The empire is one of Israel’s top six organised crime groups and one of the 40 top drug importers in the US.

NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the suspect’s extradition had been pending since 2019, when SA received extradition documents from Israel. The case was postponed to tomorrow when Ben Simon will appear with his other co-accused.

According to sources in the police and security services, Ben Simon and his associates are believed to have had multiple passports, allowing them to move in and out of the country undetected.