Haredi struggle: European activists against exploitation of yeshiva students to smuggle gat

July 17, 2022   

The phenomenon of exploiting ultra-Orthodox youth for smuggling gat: Despite partial intervention by law enforcement agencies in Israel to prevent the phenomenon, more and more young Haredi men and women from Israel, some of whom are minors, are joining in the attempts to smuggle gat leaves to European countries in exchange for a trip abroad or a payment of thousands of shekels. The Haredi 10 investigation shows that the phenomenon has recently been gaining momentum: Yeshiva students and seminary students are being sent by traffickers, who run the smuggling system, with suitcases full of gat leaves to European countries, where it is considered a drug and constitutes a serious offense, with some of them being caught, imprisoned and facing trial in foreign countries. According to the information emerging from the investigation, there are 15 to 20 young Haredi men who fly every week to various destinations in the world, with Sweden and Norway recently being added to the routine destinations in European countries. Each smuggler carries 40 kilograms with him - divided into two 'trolleys'. The acceleration in the recruitment of young Haredi people, despite all the risks and despite the fact that hundreds of young people have already been arrested to date, stems from the lifting of all coronavirus restrictions - and also because the demand for the drug gat during the summer is higher than at other times of the year. And due to the fact that young Haredi women are on summer vacation during these months. The country to which the largest quantities of gat are smuggled is England. This is also in light of the fact that anyone caught in the Kingdom and who is not a British resident or citizen does not face trial - but is immediately deported back to Israel and is banned from entering Britain for 10 years. This lenient treatment of smugglers who are caught will probably stop, since rabbis and Haredi activists in Europe, who are fighting the phenomenon, are now working to make the punishment more severe. These activists, residents of overseas, have become personally and closely acquainted with the phenomenon, after families of young men and women who have been arrested, as well as rabbis, turn to them from time to time, desperate for help. "We intend to eliminate the phenomenon, moving from a phase of providing aid and assistance to the detainees, to action on various levels, including with various parties in European countries, in order to stop these smugglings at all costs," say the activists behind the activity to prevent smugglings and the arrests that follow. "We are performing a mitzvah and preventing suffering from young men and women who are arrested and suffer together with their families," they emphasize. It should be noted that, unlike in the past, families of yeshiva students and seminary students who were tricked and lied into leaving with suitcases full of wine abroad have begun to complain to the Israel Police against the shippers of their children. At present, two complaints are known to have been filed with the Israel Police, and which have already been forwarded to the Attorney General's Office for a decision on whether to file an indictment. The Haredim 10 reporter notes that the largest shipper on the market, a resident of Modi'in Illit, has apparently recently suffered significant damage, since the goods that he releases in the morning from the Ministry of Agriculture and Customs at Ben Gurion Airport (which is currently under investigation, as to how this is done illegally) and sends in the evenings with the young Haredi people taking off from Ben Gurion Airport - have in many cases been seized the next day in England. Two complaints were filed against this smuggler operator with the Israel Police, and the case is currently being discussed by the Prosecutor's Office as to whether to file an indictment, with the Prosecutor's Office examining whether he committed criminal offenses of deception, fraud, deception and fraudulent issuance. Apparently, the decision will almost certainly be positive. At a number of airports around the world, the awareness of drug inspectors, customs and security supervisors has increased - and more smugglers are being caught 'red-handed' upon landing at their destination. For example, in the past month, quite a few young smugglers were caught in England. Haredim 10 learned that an intelligence source from one of the Middle Eastern countries has begun to pass on the names of those caught in one country to other border crossings and airports in European countries. As well as to Europol. Information from an official source abroad indicates that the amount of smuggling into France, along with the quantities of smuggled goods, has also increased significantly in recent days. An official in France involved in the matter says that since there have been many smugglings into France for years, the country's enforcement agencies have begun to impose significant prison sentences.