Bitcoin heist turns brutal: Herzliya resident stabbed, robbed of $600,000 in digital assets
Tel Aviv District Attorney indicts Murad Mahajna, a repeat offender, in one of Israel’s most violent crypto-related crimes.
The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s Office filed an indictment this week against Murad Mahajna, 46, a resident of Tel Aviv, for the violent robbery of cryptocurrencies from a residential apartment in Herzliya.
According to the indictment, Mahajna and two accomplices discovered that the victim, a Herzliya resident who lives with his wife and two daughters, owned Bitcoin, and planned to rob him.
On September 7 at 8:10 a.m., the three suspects allegedly waited for the victim in the stairwell of his building. When he opened his door, two of them, wearing black face masks, pushed him forcefully into the apartment. The assailants tied the victim’s hands with a cable and began beating him.
Mahajna, who was not wearing a mask, allegedly told the victim, “We came to take money, we are from the Karaja family,” and demanded 500 Bitcoins, worth approximately $55 million.
One of the robbers took a knife from the kitchen and held it to the victim’s neck. Mahajna then demanded that he open his digital wallet, threatening: “Let me get you out of this incident alive.” When the victim refused, the attackers stabbed him twice, once in the left leg and once in the right leg above the knee.
Under threat and in pain, the victim surrendered his digital wallet codes. The robbers transferred $547,260 in Bitcoin and approximately $42,248 in USDT. They also stole a Rolex watch valued at around ₪189,800 (about $50,000), a laptop, a Trezor crypto wallet, about €5,000, and several thousand shekels in cash.
The robbery lasted approximately one hour and ten minutes. Throughout the ordeal, Mahajna threatened the victim not to contact police, warning: “If the police are contacted, the family will be harmed.” Before leaving, the robbers cleaned the apartment with disinfectant to obscure evidence, leaving the victim tied up, bleeding, and bruised.
Two days later, Mahajna allegedly called the victim again, demanding additional wallet codes and coins within 24 hours. When the victim refused, Mahajna threatened: “Wherever you took the wife and children, we will find them.”
Initially too afraid to contact authorities, the victim eventually told his family, who persuaded him to file a complaint.
Police arrested Mahajna on September 10. Evidence collected in the case includes recorded phone calls, voice identification, technological data, and security camera footage. Mahajna has ten prior convictions for violent, drug, and weapons offenses.
The indictment charges Mahajna with breaking and entering a residence, aggravated robbery, extortion by threats, obstruction of justice, and making threats. The defendant denies the allegations against him.
