The father of a 12-year-old boy from the Kochav neighborhood of Tel Aviv was worried on Friday when he son failed to return home. It was already after midnight, and when he parents phoned his cellphone, there was no response. They decided to involve police, calling the emergency ‘100’ number to report him missing.

Police arrived at the home in a timely fashion and they were given a description of the missing youth as well as a photo. As they were preparing to begin the search for him, the door opened and in came the missing son. According to the father, he was frightened and surprised. It was almost 2:00AM and to the dad’s amazement, he learned his son had been detained by police close to their neighborhood.

Speaking to the media, the dad said “This is Chelm. One hand is looking for the child while another hand is detaining him and one is unaware of the other”. The dad explained to Ynet his son asked police to phone his home to notify his dad but police shut off his phone and prevented him from making contact with his parents.

It was further explained police threatened a group of youths, telling them if one did not volunteer to accept a summons for disturbing the peace, they would all receive one and taken to the police station. The children were afraid of police, as well as their parents. The youth decided to step forward and take the summons for all of them. When he was given it, the summons, he was shocked to learn it was 350 shekels, far more than he expected or could afford. After giving him the summons, he was finally permitted by police to head home.

The dad was angry that police did not permit his son to phone or at the very least, to notify him themselves.