Ex-Cop Ordered to Pay Nepalese Worker $100,000 After Armed Robbery

A Tel Aviv court has ordered a former police officer, Nazih Saab, to pay 354,000 shekels (approximately $95,000) plus interest and legal costs of 35,000 shekels to a migrant worker from Nepal. The court ruled that Saab, who was convicted under a plea deal for extortion by threat, robbed the worker of a significant sum of cash.

The migrant worker, Hubi Prashad, had been holding large amounts of cash in his apartment on Levinsky Street on behalf of several other foreign workers who could not open bank accounts. According to the lawsuit, Saab entered the apartment in 2023, forced everyone out except Prashad, conducted a search without a warrant, and stole a portion of the money.

Judge Aviam Barkai stated that the former officer did not provide a complete factual account to counter the robbery claims. The judge described the incident as "an unusual event in which a police officer in uniform entered and robbed the plaintiff of hundreds of thousands of shekels held by him in cash."

Of the stolen funds, 165,000 shekels were returned to Prashad. The lawsuit sought the remaining amount (154,000 shekels) along with additional compensation. The victim's lawyers, Ariel Sarig and Assaf Lafler, called the incident "horrifying," adding that the officer "exploited his governmental power to rob at gunpoint the entire savings of a helpless foreign worker... The man who was supposed to protect him became his most cruel attacker, falsely imprisoning him while trampling his human dignity."