North Israel Man Charged With Murder After Deadly Kidnapping Attempt in Kiryat Ata

The State Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment on Friday in the Haifa District Court against 22-year-old Adam Dragama of Kafr Manda, accusing him of murder under aggravated circumstances with indifference, attempted extortion kidnapping, and destruction of evidence. Prosecutors say Dragama and two others tried to abduct 30-year-old Muhammad Faraj Taha, also from Kafr Manda, over a financial debt.

According to the indictment, the group arranged a meeting with Taha in Kiryat Ata on May 9 and arrived by car carrying clubs. When Taha saw people getting out of the car with clubs and began to flee, Dragama sped his vehicle toward him and struck him head-on in an effort to stop him from escaping and complete the kidnapping.

The impact threw Taha onto the car’s hood and windshield, then toward a parked truck. He was critically injured and later died at the scene after rescue crews arrived. Prosecutors say Dragama and his partners fled without calling for help.

The indictment, filed by attorney Yaniv Zohar of the Haifa District Prosecutor’s Office, says Dragama later abandoned the car and destroyed his phone to prevent it from being used as evidence. The prosecution asked the court to keep him in custody until the end of the criminal proceedings. Police initially treated the case as a hit-and-run, but a week later, after Dragama was found in a police manhunt, the investigation shifted and the suspicion was upgraded to aggravated murder.