The elite Metzada Unit of the Israel Prisons Service arrested Monday night a murderer-robber who absconded during a furlough in 2000.
The prisoner, Mahmoud Sharaf, was sentenced to life in prison in 1991 for murder, robbery in serious circumstances, and premeditated murder, after he and two other men murdered a bank guard and stole his weapon.
The three men went on furlough together, from the Ayalon jail. All three used the break as a an opportunity to escape. The two others were located in Judea and Samaria over the years by the IDF and by the Metzada unit, and were put back in jail.
After a long search, the Metzada unit found Sharaf in Shechem, in Samaria – after he had already had time to marry and have children. Metzada's men broke into his home Monday and arrested him. He admitted his identity and was transferred to the Hadarim jail.