A 61-year-old Israeli national, Mikhael Mezrahi, has been arrested at El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, over an alleged $16.7 million fraud case in Dubai. The arrest was carried out in a joint operation involving Colombian police and Interpol following an Interpol Red Notice issued against him, according to The Jerusalem Post on Monday, 19 October 2026.
Colombian police said Mezrahi is wanted by authorities in the United Arab Emirates to serve a prison sentence for fraud, money laundering, forgery and the use of falsified private documents. Investigators allege that he was linked to an international network accused of defrauding a Dubai-based bank identified as Khartoum through the use of fraudulent financial documents. Following his arrest, he was transferred to Colombia’s Attorney General’s Office as extradition proceedings progressed.
Colombian media reported that Mezrahi, also identified in some reports as Mikhael Jaime Shamis Mezrahi, arrived in Bogotá from Madrid and was preparing to board a connecting flight to Venezuela. The reports said he was carrying four passports issued by different countries. He reportedly holds Israeli and Mexican citizenship, as well as Canadian and Lebanese citizenship.
Newspaper reports from Colombia, including El Tiempo and Extra, stated that Mezrahi was sentenced to five years in prison in the UAE in November 2022 before travelling to Spain. Spain’s National Court subsequently rejected an extradition request against him on various grounds, according to the reports. Investigators also allege that proceeds from the suspected fraud were transferred partly to WYB AG General Trading, a company he reportedly owned.
Col. Alver Vicente Alfonso Sanabria, director of the Interpol investigation unit within Colombia’s National Police, described the arrest as a significant achievement in international law enforcement cooperation. He said the operation demonstrated Colombia’s commitment to combating transnational organised crime. The next steps in the case include extradition proceedings to address the UAE’s request for Mezrahi to serve his sentence.
