Absconding Israeli drug dealer Yaniv Benaim alias Atala surrendered before a court in Goa on Wednesday (September 16, 2026), which then remanded him in a 30-day judicial custody in connection with a narcotics case.

Atala, against whom a non-bailable warrant (NBW) and a Look-Out Circular (LOC) had been issued, surrendered around noon before the court at Merces in North Goa in compliance with the Bombay High Court's September 16 deadline.

His bail plea pending before the Bombay High Court at Goa will be heard on September 21.

After his surrender and the court's judicial custody order, Atala was taken to the Central Jail at Colvale in North Goa.

Advocate Manguirish Usgaonkar, who represents Atala, said the court remanded him in judicial custody for 30 days, pending the hearing on his bail application before the Goa bench of the high court.

The case traces back to April 5, 2025 when Atala was arrested by the ANC following a raid at his apartment in Siolim in North Goa. The agency had alleged that cocaine and charas were recovered from the premises along with cash. He was booked under provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act (NDPS).

Atala was granted bail in August 2025 by the district court, which was challenged before the high court by the investigating agencies.

On July 14, 2026, the HC had set aside the bail granted to Atala and directed the trial court to reconsider his bail application.

The fresh bail plea was rejected by the North Goa court on August 14. The court also ordered the issuance of a NBW after Atala failed to appear before it. The ANC later informed the court that he was absconding and that an LOC had been issued against him.

He filed the petition before the high court subsequently, which had ordered him to surrender before the lower court on September 16, pending arguments on his bail plea.

Atala had earlier come into the spotlight in Goa in 2010 after a purported spy-camera video allegedly exposed a nexus between drug dealers and sections of the police and political establishment. Several policemen were arrested during the subsequent investigation. He had also jumped bail in August 2010 and was later arrested in Peru in January 2011.