ANT KATZ

Musli is alleged to head of one of Israel’s most feared crime families in Israel and was arrested on Interpol warrant last month for a string of alleged crimes including murder and conspiring to murder several of his Tel Aviv rivals. He was captured at Montecasino while gambling and police now say they believe he has been in South Africa since 2011.

Shai’s brother Yossi Musli, was convicted in Israel in 2007 of attempted murder of rival mobsters. Eight other members of his criminal outfit also were convicted.

RIGHT: Shai’s brother, Yossi Musli, in Israel in 2005. Hardly any pictures of the camera-shy brothers appear in the public domain, with this ten-year-old one of Yossi being all SAJR could sourse

Yossi was sentenced to 11 years in prison and Israeli police believe that Shai (or Shay as spelled in the Israeli media) took charge of the family’s mob at that time. 

Not only is Shai Musli one of Israel’s most wanted men, but the Muslis are said to be one of Israel’s wealthiest and most powerful crime families. Prosecutor 

Senior SAPS spokesman Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo told Jewish Report that Musli had been arrested purely on Interpol’s Israeli extradition request. “There are no South African charges,” he said.

Related read on SAJR: ‘MOB BOSS’ FACING EXTRADITION

In court Monday, magistrate Pravina Ragoonandan postponed the hearing at the request of both parties so that the state and Musli’s defence team could be shown the extradition papers. The Times reported on Tuesday, however, that some of the official documentation relating to his extradition was still outstanding.

Israeli police want him extradited to stand trial on a number of allegations of involvement in murders in Holon, Bat Yam and Rishon Letzion – according to Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, Musli is also suspected of other serious offenses including conspiracy to commit murder.

The conspiracy charges, according to the Jerusalem Post, relate to alleged plans to murder mobster rivals.

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Tight net of cops around Israeli ‘mobster’

Police sources seemed well briefed about the plans to help Musli escape. They said they were “expecting something” (to happen at the court). “That is why the additional officers, who were undercover, were both inside and outside the court.”

The tip-off that police received indicated that the attempt to free Musli would not be made by one of his usual known associates, but rather by someone from outside the country. “All that the police officers involved in the case have been told is that an attempt could be made some time soon,” the officer said.

LEFT: Musli in a previous appearance in the Randburg magistrates’ court. His bail hearing and extradition case were postponed until the end of the when a formal bail application is expected to be made

However, despite all the additional security, Musli appeared unfazed. He grinned in the dock, grinning, laughed with his supporters and was seen giving thumbs-ups and high-fives to friends and supporters as he was led out of court after his case was postponed.

Shai Musli told his family that he was fine as he was led into the court’s holding cells.

SA is becoming well-known as a source, a destination point, as well as a transit route for international criminal escapades. Rivalry and political interference have hamstrung police crime intelligence, allowing organised crime to flourish, say senior sources.