A 33,000 Shekel Vacation: The Family Trip That Turned Into a Theft Spree
Parents who arrived with their three young children for a vacation in Eilat were filmed using a baby stroller and special magnets to steal valuable items from dozens of different stores.
As revealed in a report by Kan News, Eliran and Sivyon Bohavut from Haifa arrived in the southern city with their young children. However, instead of vacationing, they used their baby stroller to turn the children into full partners in a sophisticated theft operation.
At first glance, it was a typical Israeli scene: a father, a mother, and three small children arriving in Eilat for a summer vacation. But behind the family's innocent appearance lay a shopping trip of a different kind, in which they moved from store to store while neglecting one central step: passing through the checkout.
Eliran and Sivyon Bohavut, both nearly 40 and from Haifa, launched a series of systematic thefts during their stay. Security camera footage shows Eliran holding clothes selected by his child, waiting patiently for the salesclerk to look away, and then quickly placing the merchandise into a bag on the stroller.
In just one store, the value of the stolen items was estimated at 1,600 shekels. The couple demonstrated significant ingenuity; the father would pull a special magnet from the bag, remove the security tags himself, and leave the store without triggering the alarms. They operated in exactly this manner across numerous stores throughout the city.
A., a security officer at one of the malls in Eilat, described the scope of the phenomenon and the infuriating method in a conversation with Kan News:
"Unfortunately, it was very widespread. They entered stores and worked using the same method of operation. They simply take the items, remove the tags, put them in the stroller, and leave."
A. reconstructed the long hours she spent reviewing security footage to decode the family's pattern:
"I sat and went through branch by branch, camera by camera, day by day. The child brings products to the father, and the father puts them in the stroller, while the woman tells him 'now,' 'available,' or 'put it in.' Sometimes the child searches for products without a tag to make it easier. In one of the stores, they lifted 33,000 shekels worth of merchandise in two and a half seconds."
