A group of Lev Tahor members who entered Moldova earlier this month were deported from the country and sent back to Turkey, B’Chadrei Chareidim reported.

Two Lev Tahor members managed to escape when Moldovan police raided the hotel where the cult members were living. However, the police are reportedly unconcerned, saying that there’s nowhere for the two escapees to go and they will eventually be detained.

Chief Rabbi of Moldova Rav Pinchas Saltzman, in cooperation with the Moldovan government, offered to allow Lev Tahor members under age 18 to remain in Moldova but the offer was refused.

After Rav Saltzman heard that the group of 30 Lev Tahor members had entered Moldova earlier this month, he quickly made urgent efforts to ensure that additional groups be refused entry into the country, fearing a rise of anti-Semitism if the cult would settle in the former Soviet republic. His efforts were successful and subsequent groups who tried to enter the country were refused entry.

Lev Tahor members are currently scattered around the world, with members in Guatemala, Romania, Brooklyn, Iraq, and possibly Mexico.

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Last week YWN reported that two leaders of the Lev Tahor cult were found guilty by a jury on all charges pertaining to the 2018 Shabbos kidnapping of two children who escaped the cult, and now face life in prison.

Nachman Helbrans and Meyer Rosner, two Lev Tahor officials who were involved in the kidnapping, were found guilty on all six charges they faced, including conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, and conspiracy to commit international parental kidnapping.

Several other Lev Tahor cultists have been arrested in connection with the case, including brothers Yoel, Yaakov, and Shmiel Weingarten, who were picked up by Guatemala authorities earlier this year.

They are expected to be extradited to the United States to face charges and a trial.

Three others in the United States are reportedly cooperating with authorities.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)