Police not amused at two men selling laughing gas to minors

Veterinarian and friend arrested for selling balloons filled with nitrous oxide from their trunk to minors at Herzliya nightclub
Avi Cohen

A veterinarian from the Tel Aviv area and his friend from Kiryat Motzkin are suspected of creating a laughable and illegal type of employment: The sale of balloons filled with nitrous oxide, better known as laughing gas, to youths at a party in Herzliya. The police were not amused, and the two were arrested Wednesday.

 

Late Tuesday night Herzliya police received a call indicating that Oleg Druyanov and Yevgeni Cornfield were selling some unknown substance from their vehicle near a night club in the city.

 

Officers alerted to the scene saw a crowd of youths gathering around the car. When the suspects noticed the police they fled, but were soon caught and three laughing gas containers were discovered in their trunk along with hundreds of balloons. The suspects were also in possession of about $500.

 

The two denied the allegations against them, claiming they had merely arrived at the nightclub in order to have a good time, but police Sergeant Major Tzadok Dolev told the court that dozens of used balloons had been found scattered around their car. He claimed that youths were purchasing balloons filled with gas for around $5 each.

 

Druyanov and Cornfield's attorney claimed the two had bought the gas themselves and held it locked in their car, so it did not constitute any danger to the public, but the judge remanded their arrest after determining that the two had negligently handled a toxic substance.