heading from Antalya in Turkey back to Haifa, the captain was instructed by encrypted message to change course for Italy and anchor off the coast of La Spezia, out of the port in international waters. Once in Rome, Vanunu and Bentov took a taxi to an apartment in the city's old quarter, where three waiting Mossad operatives overpowered Vanunu and injected him with a paralyzing drug. Later that night, a white van hired by the Israeli embassy arrived, and Vanunu was carried to the vehicle bound to a stretcher. The van drove with Vanunu and the agents to La Spezia's dock, where they boarded a waiting speedboat, which reached the waiting Noga anchored off the coast. The crew of the Noga were ordered to assemble all in the ship's common hall behind locked doors, as Vanunu and the Mossad agents boarded the ship, which then departed for Israel. During the journey, Vanunu was kept in a secluded cabin, with just the Mossad agents routinely interrogating and guarding him in turns, while none of the Nogas crew were allowed to approach either of them. On 7 October, the ship anchored off the coast of Israel between Tel Aviv and Haifa, where it was met by a smaller vessel to which Vanunu was transferred. Vanunu was detained in Israel and interrogated.<ref>Hounam, Peter: The woman from Mossad: The story of Mordechai Vanunu & the Israeli nuclear program</ref> He was detained in a Gedera prison, in a wing run by Shin Bet. On 5 October, the Sunday Times published the information it had revealed, and estimated that Israel had produced more than 100 nuclear warheads. On 9 November 1986, after weeks of press reports speculating that Vanunu had been abducted, the Israeli government confirmed it was holding Vanunu prisoner. Trial and imprisonment On 6 January 1987, he began a hunger strike over his prison conditions. During a visit with his brother Asher and in a letter to his brother Meir, he complained, among other things, of being held in solitary confinement 23 hours a day. When Judy Zimmet traveled to Israel and asked to visit him in prison, prison authorities said they could only meet in the presence of prison officials and with them separated by a glass barrier. Vanunu rejected these conditions, demanding that he be allowed to meet her face to face. He filed three appeals to the Israeli Supreme Court protesting