Police arrest fugitive Border Guard officer

Police Internal Affairs Bureau officers apprehended Yanai Lalza, a former Border Guard officer, who fled custody after being convicted of the manslaughter of a Palestinian teenager in December of 2002, during his service in the West Bank city of Hebron.

Lalza disappeared soon after his sentencing hearing and had been at large for nearly a week.

Yanai Lalza and three other soldiers – Shahar Botabicka, Bassam Wahabee and Denis Alchazoff – were caught on video abusing 17-year-old Abu Hamadya in Hebron, in the winter of 2002.

According to the indictment, the four kidnapped him in their car, proceeded to beat him, and eventually threw him out of the jeep they were riding in at a high speed. As a result, Hamadya suffered fatal head injuries and later died.

Lalza was sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison in April, by the Jerusalem District Court. The presiding Judge, Orit Efal-Gabai, noted in her ruling that she chose not to give Lalza a harsher sentence, due to his "difficult family circumstances."

Nevertheless, Lalza escaped and was on the run for a week. He was finally tracked down in the southern Israeli city of Eilat on Thursday.