Four J'lem men indicted for Milan judaica theft

The Jerusalem District Attorney’s office filed an indictment, on Sunday, against four Jerusalem men for stealing and selling judaica artifacts worth upward of one million Euro from a synagogue in Milan earlier this month.

Two of the men, 22-year-old Meir Mualem and 21-year-old Meir Yerushalmi, were indicted on charges of theft, impersonation and conspiring to commit a crime for their part of the heist.

According to the indictment, Mualem lifted the artifacts, silver Torah crowns, rimmonim and other silver and gold objects, from the Torah Ark in the synagogue, while Yerushalmi distracted synagogue staff. The two then flew back to Israel with the goods, planning to sell them as their own. When asked at the customs inspection what they were doing with the objects, the men told the inspector that the artifacts were damaged and that they planned to have them fixed.