Prosecutors were expected to notify a court on Thursday that they intend to indict Yan Shemla, a 41-year-old Beersheba resident suspected of deliberately placing sedative drugs in baby fruit purees sold in Jerusalem, police said.
Police will ask the court to keep Shemla in custody for another five days while the indictment is prepared.
The prosecutor’s statement marks the final stage of the investigation before charges are filed.
Shemla is suspected of contaminating jars of Prinok fruit puree that were linked to the hospitalization of at least four children in Jerusalem earlier this year.
The investigation became public in June after children were taken to Hadassah-University Medical Center in Ein Kerem suffering from unusual weakness, drowsiness and apathy. Tests found benzodiazepines in their blood, while Health Ministry laboratory tests identified the sedative drugs clonazepam and lorazepam in jars of the puree.
The children were released from the hospital after observation.
The affected products had been bought at two branches of the Zol VeGadol supermarket chain in Jerusalem. The Health Ministry issued closure orders against both stores at the time but did not order a blanket recall of Prinok products, saying the evidence pointed to a localized incident.
Police said investigators reviewed hundreds of hours of security-camera footage from several locations and used technological tools to identify Shemla.
According to police, investigators initially had no clear lead because hundreds of people passed through the locations each day and the suspect had no known prior connection to the children or the products.
Police surveilled Shemla before arrest
After identifying Shemla, detectives placed him under covert surveillance, tracking his movements and routine until police believed they had gathered sufficient evidence to arrest him at his home.
Police also released security-camera footage on Thursday showing Shemla inside a supermarket around the time of the alleged acts. The publicly released footage does not show substances being placed inside the jars.
The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) assisted the investigation, police said. Thursday’s announcement did not identify a suspected motive or say that the case was being treated as terrorism.