Israel Police have tracked down and arrested five members of a pirate coronavirus testing ring that has allegedly been operating throughout the country.
The suspects are accused of collecting sums estimated at tens of thousands of shekels while exploiting their status as volunteers for the Magen David Adom (MDA) emergency medical response service and accessing the test kits.
Israel Police revealed information about the arrests on Wednesday.
The Jerusalem District Police Central Unit launched an undercover police investigation following a report received from MDA management about the suspected piracy of corona tests by civilian MDA volunteers, all of which were then used in tests for “customers” for a fee.
Upon arrest of a suspect in the probe, police investigators revealed the operation, which involves other suspects, including additional volunteers and laboratory owners in Israel and Ramallah.
The suspects performed coronavirus testing in various places in Israel, including Ben Gurion International Airport. Some of the tests were allegedly carried out in such a way that their results came back negative so that “customers” could enter and leave the country as they wished.
After the pirated tests were performed, the suspects allegedly would transfer the tests to a laboratory in the Palestinian Authority and a private laboratory in Jerusalem in order to ensure their results would not find their way into the Ministry of Health database, and thus could remain anonymous and be transferred individually to their “customers.”
Five suspects have been arrested so far (ages 19, 20s and 30s); the detention of four of the suspects has been extended in the Magistrate’s Court until October 9, 2020.
“These are suspects who have seized control over public health while underestimating the importance of proper coronavirus tests, the whole purpose of which is to prevent the infection, and to help the citizens of the country to get through the pandemic with a minimum of casualties — all out of greed for money,” Israel Police said in a statement. “We intend to act against these suspects to the fullest extent of the law.”
