The head of an Interpol unit in the Israel Police, Tali Bankin, revealed Sunday new details about the search for Mali and Liel Yahalomi, who were located in Argentina after contact with them was lost for a week.
In an interview with Kol Berama, Bankin described a shift in the direction of the investigation and the point at which the focus of the search moved to South America.
According to Bankin, investigators initially considered the possibility that the two had been abducted.
“The initial working assumption was that this was an abduction incident. Later, we understood that it was a planned event," she said.
Bankin said that alongside the police investigation, numerous rumors circulated and complicated efforts to establish what had happened.
“There was a lot of fake news that created confusion. We tried to calm the situation," she said, adding that once police determined that the disappearance had been intentional, “things were clearer in our work with the media."
Bankin said the breakthrough that led investigators to Argentina came several days ago, when police received an indication that Mali and Liel were in the country.
“The center of gravity then moved to South America," she said, describing the shift in the search effort.
She assessed that during the period in which contact with the two was lost, they were likely unaware of the scale of the efforts to locate them.
“I don’t think they knew about all the search efforts; they were cut off from contact," she said.
Bankin also addressed the resources invested in the case, saying, “A lot of money from Israel was spent on the search."
After Mali and Liel were located, she said, police involvement came to an end. “Their connection with us is now over," Bankin said.