Raid on Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Compound in Guatemala

Guatemalan officers raided a compound on Friday belonging to Lev Tahor, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish sect with previous hyperlinks to youngster exploitation. Prosecutors mentioned they’d eliminated a minimum of 160 youngsters and youngsters from the positioning who they believed have been the victims of human trafficking and different offenses.

A regional prosecutor, Dimas Jiménez y Jiménez, informed reporters in a information convention that the authorities have been contemplating prices together with human trafficking, compelled being pregnant, mistreatment of minors and rape.

“We suspect these crimes have been dedicated by a member of the group,” Mr. Jiménez y Jiménez mentioned.

Officials additionally mentioned {that a} deputy commissioner of the National Civil Police, Manuel Salvador Aldana Monzón, was arrested on Friday night time in relation to the case. He was arrested on prices of leaking confidential data to one of many leaders of Lev Tahor, they mentioned, probably performing as an informant about police operations.

The authorities had tried to raid the group earlier than, however they have been all the time obstructed ultimately, Lucrecia Prera, the top of the Attorney General’s Office for Children and Adolescents, mentioned in an interview.

Officials had entered the compound a few occasions, however solely noticed the areas that the leaders allowed them to see. Community members, Ms. Prera mentioned, would carry out ceremonial dances and encircle the officers to stop them from transferring round.

Friday’s raid passed off after 4 non-Guatemalan minors ran away from the group in November and alerted the authorities. From their statements and proof accessible to officers, together with medical examinations, “we may set up that these minors have certainly skilled types of human trafficking,” the particular prosecutor towards human trafficking, Nancy Lorena Paiz García, informed reporters.