In reflective vests: police officers went undercover to catch a traffic offender from the north in Tel Aviv | Documentation
Detectives from the Nazareth station traveled to Tel Aviv to incriminate Muhammad Abu Ras near his workplace. After obtaining the 'golden evidence' and filming him, he managed to escape. Two months later, he turned himself in, and at the same time, he was charged with a series of traffic offenses.
Disguised as road maintenance workers and wearing yellow and orange vests with helmets, detectives from the Nazareth station managed to incriminate a man from the north who had committed a series of serious traffic offenses and fled from police dozens of kilometers away. Documentation from the scene near the man's workplace in Tel Aviv shows the officers filming him to strengthen the evidence against him.
Major Maya Shiloni from the prosecution office in the Emekim district filed an indictment against him over the weekend. Muhammad Abu Ras (33) from the village of Iksal near Nazareth had long been identified as someone allegedly involved in criminal offenses in the northern city. Among other things, he was investigated for suspicions of shooting at houses, possession of weapons, and threats. Despite police attempts to catch him 'red-handed', he managed to evade the law time and time again. Consequently, the police showed creativity, posed as road maintenance workers, put on reflective vests, and drove from Nazareth to Tel Aviv, where Abu Ras worked in construction.
'The detectives spotted him driving a vehicle while disqualified, documented him, and when they identified themselves as police officers, he began to flee in his vehicle,' said Major Rotem Diay, Deputy Commander of the Nazareth Police. 'He abandoned the vehicle at a construction site in Tel Aviv and began to flee on foot.'
The detectives continued their attempts to locate Abu Ras, but he managed to slip away, convinced that they had not captured him driving. During his flight, Abu Ras moved from house to house in the central region and avoided returning to his home in the north.
'After about two months of running, he realized that we were closing in on him, and he turned himself in at the Nazareth police station. In his interrogation, he denied it was him, but the moment we presented him with the 'golden evidence'—the video documentation of him driving—he stopped answering the investigators,' Major Diay said.
The officer added: 'We did not spare any resources to reach him and arrest him, and we will do the same for any target we suspect of involvement in shooting offenses, violence, or any other serious offense. The evidence we collected is strong enough for his conviction. We have requested detention until the end of the proceedings and disqualification from driving.'
Abu Ras was charged with reckless driving, driving while disqualified, driving without insurance, obstructing a police officer in the performance of his duty, and driving with an expired license. His trial will take place at the Magistrate's Court in Nazareth.
