The police were investigating a major drug smuggling, after a suitcase containing 11 kilograms of pure cocaine, which arrived on a flight from France was detected.
The case belonged to a 32-year-old resident of the north, who was suffering from a mental disability, and was being held in police custody.
The drugs were valued at millions of shekels and were confiscated and transferred to a police lab for further testing.
The Nazareth Magistrate court remanded the owner of the case to five days in custody, while his attorney argued he could not be held responsible for smuggling drugs because of his mental condition.
"My client who is a person with disabilities, made several suicide attempts after his military service, had lost sight in one of his eyes and is being treated by psychiatrists," Lawyer Tomer Naveh said.
He said he was told by his client that the suitcase was handed to him in France and that he was asked to bring it to Israel. "He has no idea who gave him the suitcase. We will present medical records, which will prove our claim that he is unfit to stand trial."
The police said their investigation was just beginning. "This is a huge case, the investigation is in its initial steps and the goal is to reach more suspects that were involved in this smuggling." a police official said.
The suspect's mother told Ynet that her son is recognized as disabled by social services. "He doesn't understand what he's doing. I didn't even know he was in France, he told us that he was going on a trip to the south. From what I understand he's not even able to buy his own plane tickets and book a hotel room and he has no money to pay for such a strip," she said.