Mexican authorities rescued a group of children and adolescents who lived in a camp belonging to an Orthodox Jewish sect and which was located in a jungle area in the state of Chiapas.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry, quoted by the British public television channel BBC, confirmed that the operation was carried out on Friday, September 23, and that it ended with two detainees for alleged human trafficking and sexual abuse.
Among the rescued minors is a three-year-old boy, who was sent back to Israel to be reunited with his family, according to the BBC.
The sect that operated the camp, located 11 miles north of Tapachula, is called
Lev Tahor and is known for advocating child marriage
, meting out harsh punishments and forcing women to wear robes from the age of three to cover their bodies.
The rescue operation was carried out after a federal judge approved the arrest of several of its leaders after the investigation led by the Special Prosecutor for Organized Crime (FEMDO).
In total, 26 members of the sect were found in the compound.
According to the BBC, there were people from Israel with dual citizenship, including Canadian, American and Guatemalan.
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According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, two other members had left the place two days before the raid.
A Canadian and an Israeli citizen were arrested.
Another five are in custody for allegedly breaking immigration rules.
The rest await a decision on their situation in the Ministry of Social Welfare of Mexico.
Another five were arrested for allegedly breaking immigration regulations.
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The 3-year-old is the son of Yisrael Amir, an Israeli who had left the group and was present during the raid.
The man returned with his son to his country.
According to reports from the Mexican newspaper Proceso, other members of the Lev Tahor community denounced persecution and protested at the facilities of the National Migration Institute in Huixtla, where the detainees are being held.
They denounced that the treatment they received is a repressive measure by the Government of Israel.
"Jewish Taliban"
The controversial group has been called a sect within which abuses occur, according to the BBC.
It has settled in Mexico and Guatemala and in the past has had a history of problems with the law.
In 2018, nine people, including its leader, Nachman Helbrans, were arrested for the kidnapping of two children who were taken by their mother to New York after escaping from the group in Guatemala.
Members of an Orthodox Jewish community place a sticker of the International Rescue Committee for Jewish Families of the Lev Tahor Settlement on the window of a bus in Guatemala City, on September 25, 2016. Getty Images
Their orthodox politics have caused them to be known as "Jewish Taliban", says the BBC, and the group was declared a "dangerous cult" by an Israeli court.
The sect was created in 1988 by Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans, who moved to the United States and was convicted of kidnapping in 1994. He served two in prison.
It currently has 350 members, of whom between 70 and 80 are in Guatemala.