Chapter 1
This is the story of an Israeli citizen working as an agent for another country, who was captured and brought back to Israel to face trial and punishment also known as the man in the trunk.
This agent was responsible for passing valuable information to another country. He was under observation and followed by Mossad agents the intelligence agency of Israel and finally brought back to his native country to face trials.
On a cold day of 18th Nov 1964, a plane headed for Cairo was about to take off from Rome’s Fiumicino airport. It was raining heavily that day making it even colder. The plane was a United Arab Airlines flight 784 to Cairo, and waiting for passengers to board the plane.
A UAE airline van enters the loading area and heads towards flight 784. It stops near the plane, and two Egyptian authorities step out of the van and open the rear door of van. They began unloading a massive trunk from its rear end, and their expressions revealed that the trunk was heavy.
As the yellowish brass trunk, was heavy they asked the Italian porters standing nearby to lend them a helping hand instructing them to handle the luggage with care. The Italian porters were loading luggage in the rear compartment of the plane. The porters noticed that the trunk was tagged as “Diplomatic Mail”.
Chapter 2
The paper attached at the top of the trunk read, “Ministry of foreign affairs” and “Property of Egyptian Embassy”. This was diplomatic luggage and according to Vienna Convention, the customs are not supposed to search the luggage.
As the porters helped the Egyptian authorities unloading the large trunk, porter Mario Colelli heard a sound coming from inside the trunk in the Italian language “Aiutatemi! Salvatemi!” (Help me! Save me!).
He thought that his mind was playing tricks as it was raining on that day. A few seconds later, he heard the same voice again coming from inside the trunk. This time he grew suspicious, and thought, are these authorities kidnapping somebody under the name of diplomatic luggage.
He asked the officials about the contents of the trunk, to which they replied that a musical instrument is packed inside the trunk and transported to Cairo. Due to the presence of air inside the trunk the instrument is producing sound.
The porter was unconvinced and soon reported the matter to the customs officials screening the passengers. Realising the problem these two officials reload the trunk in their van and flee the area.
Chapter 3
The custom officials inform the airport security, and soon the United Arab Emirate van having the trunk was apprehended by police chasing them down on motorcycles. Onlookers on the tarmac and from the airport were witness to this chase. The van was seized and taken to the police station.
The identity of the officials was verified to be the first secretaries of the Egyptian Embassy—Abdel Moneim el‐Neklawy and Selim Osman el‐Sayed. Both of them were deported back to their country the next day by the Italian government. It was revealed, that they had loaded the trunk into the vehicle from the Egyptian Embassy.
The cops were astonished as they opened the trunk at the police station to find a slim young blond man. His head was encased in a crash helmet and he was wearing shoes that were thrust with nails to the floor of the trunk. The trunk also contained small holes in the side to let him breathe. He was drugged and had swollen eyes. It seemed that this person was lying there for more than a day.
This startling discovery was so profound that it was about to rattle secret agencies of three different countries. Questions related to the man found in the trunk became a focal point in the media. What is the identity of this man and why was he taken in such a pathetic condition inside a trunk to Cairo was some of the unanswerable questions before the cops.
Chapter 4
The man in the trunk was in critical condition. He was admitted to the hospital; meanwhile, the Italian investigating agency started probing the identity of the man in the trunk. They could not figure out much about him. A couple of days later, the condition of that man improved, and a few days later, he had recovered completely.
After his recovery, the Italian police take him to the Italian police headquarters for questioning. The man identifies himself as Josef Dahan, born in Morocco in 1944 and then shifted to Israel. He is a citizen of Israel.
He continues that he arrived in Rome only a couple of days ago. On 16th Nov 1964, he was sitting in ‘Cafe de Paris’ coffee shop in Via Veneto when suddenly two men approached him. They were from the Egyptian Embassy, and they offered him a job as an interpreter in their Embassy.
These Egyptian Embassy people ordered drinks for Josef and kept on feeding him drink unless he fell unconscious. When he regained his consciousness, he found himself in a bed in an old building. There were more people in the room injecting him with some drugs, and he became unconscious again.
When he regained his consciousness, he found himself inside a trunk with his head tied in a case and his shoes thrust into the floor of the trunk with nails. Though cops believed that Josef Dahan was drugged as the traces of the drugs was found from his body during the investigation. But they were reluctant to believe the other part of the story.
Chapter 5
Why two men from Egyptian Embassy would take such a risk of kidnapping a young man from a rather crowded area, and what is the true identity of this captured individual named Josef Dahan were some of the questions that the Italian agency started investigating.
The Italian agencies got in touch with Moroccan as well as the Israeli Embassy to get details about this man. A few days later, both the countries Embassy denies knowledge of any person named Josef Dahan. The case was reaching a dead end without any substantial leads.
The Italian government transfers this case to the Italian intelligence agency Agenzia Informazioni e Sicurezza Interna (AISI) in a bid to resolve it. A few days later, AISI releases the first official statement related to the case claiming that Josef Dahan is not the true identity of the man in the trunk. The intelligence agencies were not able to find any conclusive evidence to prove the identity of the man in the trunk.
One day in January 1965, an anonymous phone came at the desk of an investigating officer. The man on the other side of the phone claimed that he was a reporter and speaking from Tel Aviv. He claimed that he had just spoken to the wife of Josef Dahan.
Chapter 6
The investigator was surprised, before he could speak a word, the reporter continued that his wife lives with four children at the outskirts of Tel Aviv and that the original name of the man is not Josef Dahan.
The original name of the captured person is Mordechai Louk and not Josef Dahan, and after revealing the identity of the person, the reporter keeps the phone down. The presence of some unprofessional investigators in the Italian agency leaks this information to the media and the next day the information is printed in the leading newspapers.
The spreading of information leads to few other calls from ladies claiming that the captured person is their husband. But all the ladies confirmed that the name of the person is Mordechai Louk and not Josef Dahan as claimed by him earlier.
Mordechai Louk, confined in a jail, was unwilling to visit any visitor and was mostly confined to his prison, indicating that he doesn’t want to come out of the jail, presuming a threat to his life.
Chapter 7
AISI continues with their investigation and interviews all the ladies claiming to be his wife. One of the ladies informs them that Mordechai Louk was residing in a hotel in Naples. The agents reach Naples and search his room, to find many electronic gadgets like microphones and miniature cameras. They also stumble upon a ring with a hidden compartment.
These confiscated materials from the room of Mordechai Louk assured investigators that this guy was not an ordinary citizen as claimed by him, rather a master spy.
When the United Arab Emirate van was captured and seized, among the onlookers were two undercover Mossad agents who have kept a close eye on Mordechai Louk. They felt happy after his arrest; driving about an hour they reach a secluded house. They first secure the perimeter of the house and after entering the house to calls up their office to confirm the arrest.
These two undercover Mossad agents were tracking Mordechai Louk, for the last couple of years tracking all his movements. As Louk was an Israeli citizen spying for Egypt. The security at the Fiumicino airport was on high alert because of an anonymous phone call received at the airport about smuggling an individual to Cairo.
The anonymous phone calls were made by Mossad undercover agents. The reporter who provided the vital information to the Italian investigating officer was also a Mossad agent.
Chapter 8
Mordechai Louk was born in Morocco and moved to Israel with his parents as he was about five years old. After completing his education at the age of eighteen he joins the army, also learning carpentry as a means of his earning. His earning was meagre and was not able to fulfil his ambition of luxurious life and this pressure on him mounted after his marriage.
He became involved in petty crimes like stealing, gambling and drinking. He also got involved with many ladies during that time landing in prison multiple times.
One day, while patrolling with his army unit in Gaza in late 1960, Louk sneaks into Egyptian territory. The Egyptian army was quick to arrest and imprison him. In prison, he expresses his idea to the Egyptian authorities that he wants to work for them if the Egyptian government agrees to offer political asylum to him.
The Egyptian government was afraid that he might be an Israeli spy who wanted to access the intelligence details. Louk tried to convince the authorities numerous times, even by hurting himself in prison.
Chapter 9
In late 1962, the Egyptian secret agency finally absorbs Louk into their service as an agent as they were looking for a charming young man who can speak multiple languages. His added military training provided him with the advantage. After elaborate training finally, Louk was a certified agent of Egyptian secret services.
Mordechai Louk was assigned to collect all the information about Jews living in Spain, France and Germany. Louk was successful in the assignment, and for two years, he resides in many cities of the European countries. Elated with his success, Louk was transferred to Naples in January 1964.
In Naples, his lifestyle changed, and he started drinking and gambling. Unable to meet his luxurious lifestyle, he calls his Egyptian boss and demands more money for his efforts and that creates a rift between him and the Egyptian Secret Service.
The secret service chief requests Louk to visit Egyptian Embassy to discuss the details to which he refuses as he knew that he may be arrested in the Embassy rather on the other hand requests his chief boss to meet him at ‘Cafe de Paris’ coffee shop in Via Veneto as this was a crowded place.
During the meeting, the agents started pouring one drink after another into Louk’s glass until the time arrived, he was knocked unconscious. The Egyptian secret Chief and two agents then gave him a shoulder and boarded him into a waiting car. The car headed straight towards the Egyptian Embassy.
Chapter 10
Mossad starts preparing for their next step of action now that Mordechai Louk was imprisoned in an Italian prison. They activate all their agents in Rome to bring Louk back to their country for prosecution.
The agents tracked guards posted at the prison collecting information about each of them. They soon stumble upon a prison guard who had two marriages, and none of his wives knew about the other marriage.
Agents started following this prison guard collecting information, they also visited the residence of both his wives in disguise as sales man. One Sunday in October 1965, a Mossad agent approaches the prison guard and confronts him to follow his instructions in place of money else his double life would be exposed which may result in his loss of job and wives.
Cornered from all the ends, the prison guard agrees to help. A few days later, the prison guard was handed a bottle of liquid with the instructions to add five drops of it into the lunch of Mordechai Louk. The prison guard takes up his duty on the canteen, and on the pretext of searching an inmate; he skilfully adds five drops of liquid into the lunch of Louk on 4th November 1965.
Chapter 11
Two hours later, Louk was suffering from severe stomach cramps, the jail doctor refers Louk to the hospital. In the hospital, doctors flush out the food in his stomach and provide him with a cabin to rest for monitoring his health with two armed guards posted outside.
In the evening, when the doctor visits for checking the patient, he observes that the two guards were missing. On opening the door of the cabin he found that one of the guards was sleeping in the patient’s bed while another guard was sleeping in the toilet.
Police were informed immediately, and they cordoned off the hospital, all the bus stops, airports, railway stations were put under red alert and a massive search operation was launched. But they fail to locate Mordechai Louk.
Louk was kidnapped by Mossad agents from the hospital, loading him on a private jet and taking him to Malta. He was then confined into the basement of a boat and taken to the city of Haifa through the Mediterranean Sea.
Mordechai Louk stood trial and convicted by the Israel court for ten years imprisonment for spying for Egypt against his home country. After ten years he was released, and he worked as a carpenter for the rest of his life residing in Israel.
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