Members of Jewish cult Lev Tahor arrested in Mexico on drug, rape charges

Mexican authorities arrested members of the Jewish Lev Tahor sect in a raid in which a three-year-old boy was returned to his father who had fled the community, Israel said Tuesday. 

The raid took place on Friday "after the Mexican police collected incriminating evidence against several people in the sect on suspicion of drug trafficking, rape and more", the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. 

Lev Tahor was formed in the 1980s and members practice an ultra-Orthodox form of Judaism in which women wear black tunics covering them from head to toe. 

Israeli media outlets said the arrest operation took place in Tapachula, a town near Mexico's southeastern border with Guatemala. 

Among 26 sect members detained at a compound were citizens of Israel, Canada, the United States and Guatemala, including two suspected of sex crimes and human trafficking who could face up to 20 years in jail, according to the ministry statement. 

Five people who were detained would likely be expelled from Mexico, while the rest of the group was placed in a facility run by the Mexican welfare authorities, it said. 

Two people wanted by police who were not present at the time of the raid were believed to have left the compound days earlier, the statement added. 

"A private Israeli team" accompanied police, the ministry said, while the Israeli consul "was staying nearby" in order to ensure that the members of the sect were well treated and that the children were not separated from their mothers. 

During the operation, a three-year-old boy was handed over to his father who had fled the sect several years ago, and both arrived in Israel on Monday, the statement said. 

(AFP)