[1] After the assassination of presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galán on 18 August 1989, Colombian police raided the home of cartel leader Gonzalo Rodríguez Gacha, where they discovered hundreds of IMI Galil rifles including the one that had killed Galan.
In 1983, Maurice Sarfati, a Lebanese-born Israeli, started a melon farm on Antigua on the approval of Vere Bird Jr, with whom he cultivated a friendship.
[8] In an attempt to get out of bankruptcy, Sarfati, who was now living in Miami, and Klein contacted Pinchas Schahar (a retired Brigadier-General, then a representative of Israel Military Industries (IMI)).
The Else TH was primarily loaded with weapons for government troops in South America, including Colombia, and Antigua was a convenient first stop.
The container sat unguarded on the dockside for seven hours before the MV Seapoint arrived and collected it, before dumping it on a deserted beach in north-west Colombia where the ship also picked up a 2½ ton shipment of cocaine.
[15] Klein was put on trial at the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court for three counts of exporting military equipment and expertise without the requisite licenses.
During the trial, he explained that he pleaded guilty "to put an end to the witch hunt running rampant in some of the press, based on rumours and speculation which are harming the state and me."