Colombian immigration authorities announced that 17 minors, five of them under an Interpol Yellow Notice, were rescued from the Jewish ultra-Orthodox sect Lev Tahor on Sunday in the city of Yarumal, Antioquia, Colombia.
The operation was led by the immigration authority and the Gaula Militar Oriente from the Colombian Army, alongside operatives from Interpol, and managed to take the minors from Yarumal to the Migration Center in Medellin.
The minors were all foreign nationals from the United States, Canada, and Guatemala, according to reports by Colombian newspaper El Tiempo.
The Yellow Notice that was issued for five of these 17 minors is an alert from Interpol in cases of missing persons, especially for underage people, victims of human trafficking, and kidnapping crimes.
Officials from the immigration authority said that the ultra-Orthodox sect had “several alerts by different international organizations for alleged crimes against minors in Guatemala and the US, including sentences against its leaders for kidnapping and sexual exploitation of children.”
What is Lev Tahor
Lev Tahor is a Jewish cult that was founded in the 1980s by Rabbi Shlomo Helbrans and is known for its extremist doctrine, including dress code, rejection of secular education and medicine, and the enforcement of child marriages.
Many of its members were last seen in Guatemala, where almost 140 minors were rescued by the Guatemalan police.
Over the past two decades, the sect has migrated from Israel to Canada, the US, Mexico, and now Guatemala, usually in flight from legal scrutiny. International authorities have accused the group of child trafficking, abuse, and psychological captivity.
Now, members of the sect seem to be located in Colombia, following the detention of Elazar Rumpler, one of the sect leaders, in El Salvador in January 2025 and his extradition to Israel, wanted on charges of serious child abuse.
Gabriel Colodro/The Media Line contributed to this report.