- An airline security executive was convicted after smuggling drugs on commercial flights.
- Rami Yogev used his position to bypass security and smuggle the drugs in hand luggage on Al El.
- Yogev said he thought he was carrying gold on the flights between Johannesburg and Israel.
An airline executive was sentenced to 12 years in prison after smuggling more than 50 kilograms of cocaine on a number of flights, The Jerusalem Post reported.
Rami Yogev, who worked for Israeli airline Al El, was convicted on three counts of conspiracy to commit a crime and three counts of importing a drug weighing 18kg each, after carrying the packages from South Africa to Israel.
According to the newspaper, as a senior executive of Al-El's security division, Yogev had access to several areas of Ben-Gurion airport in Israel as part of his role, including aircraft, and could bypass security abroad.
The suitcases were smuggled past airport security at Johannesburg, and onto El Al flights as hand luggage, BI South Africa reported. At Ben Gurion, a courier handed the suitcases to Yogev as soon as the plane landed, and he walked them past security checks.
Yogev admitted to charges of smuggling but claimed he didn't know what was being smuggled. His defence lawyers said Yogev was told the packages being smuggled contained gold. His conviction was based on the fact that he chose to overlook the possibility the package could be drugs, several publications reported.
Prosecutors said he was paid $10,000 per suitcase, per The Post.
Yogev was initially charged in 2019 with eight other suspects. He was arrested with three others after drugs were discovered in the hand luggage of one of the suspects who had just arrived on a flight from Johannesburg, The Times of Israel reported.
According to the Post, Judge Moti Levy ruled that Yogev "took advantage of his position at El Al to bring the luggage to Israel," calling it "one of the most serious drug cases discussed in court."
Al El didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.