Haifa Police Bust Drug Lab in Central Carmel, Seize 7kg Cannabis in Ongoing Crackdown
Police in Haifa uncovered a drug laboratory operating in an apartment in the city's Central Carmel neighborhood on Friday, as part of a targeted crackdown on drug trafficking and distribution networks, authorities said.
Officers from the Tirat Carmel police station conducted a search of the premises after identifying it as a suspected drug cultivation site. The raid yielded approximately seven kilograms of cannabis, according to a police statement.
Following the investigation, Coastal Police Commander Assistant-Chief Yechiel Bohadana signed an administrative closure order, effectively shutting down the premises.
The bust comes just a week after a weeks-long undercover investigation led to a large-scale operation by the Tel Aviv Central Unit, during which nine suspects were arrested. Authorities confiscated significant amounts of foreign currency and shekels, along with dozens of kilograms of a substance believed to be the synthetic drug known as "Doctor."
Police described that facility as one of the largest drug labs discovered in recent years, calling it an organized infrastructure that had been flooding the local party scene with unprecedented quantities of narcotics.
The recent operations come amid a troubling rise in drug-related deaths. Over the past month alone, five young people have been found dead following drug use, though investigators have not yet established a direct link between these fatalities and the labs uncovered this week.
“In recent months, toxic drugs disguised as various substances have been distributed across the country,” a police source told Walla news. “Special forces are doing everything they can to locate them.”
According to investigation findings, the arrested suspects operated as a single network. Some manufactured the drugs in fully equipped laboratories, each according to their role, while others managed distribution through criminals who saturated the local market with exceptionally large quantities. The Tel Aviv Central Unit had been tracking the operation for weeks before moving in.