The phenomenon of the exploitation of ultra-Orthodox youth to smuggle winepresses: Despite the partial intervention of law enforcement agencies in Israel to prevent the phenomenon, more and more ultra-Orthodox young men and women from Israel, some of them minors, are joining in exchange for a trip abroad or payment of thousands of shekels, for smuggling Ali Gat to European countries.
An ultra-Orthodox investigation 10 shows that the phenomenon has recently gained momentum: yeshiva students and seminary students are sent by traffickers, who run the smuggling system, with suitcases full of wine to European countries, where it is considered a drug and a serious offense.
According to the information from the research, these are 15 to 20 ultra-Orthodox young people who fly every week to various destinations in the world, when recently they were added to the routine destinations in European countries – including Sweden and Norway.
Each smuggler carries with him 40 kg – divided into two ‘trolls’.
The acceleration in the mobilization of ultra-Orthodox youth, despite all the risks and despite the fact that hundreds of young people have already been arrested to date, is due to the removal of all corona restrictions – and also because the demand for wine during the summer is higher than in other seasons. And due to the fact that the ultra-Orthodox young women are currently on summer vacation.
The country to which the largest quantities of wine are smuggled is England. This is also in light of the fact that anyone caught in the kingdom and not a British resident or citizen is not on trial – but is immediately deported back to Israel and banned from entering the UK for 10 years.
This mitigating treatment of the smugglers who are caught is likely to stop, as ultra-Orthodox rabbis and activists in Europe, who are fighting the phenomenon, are now working to toughen the punishment.
These activists, residents of foreign countries, became personally acquainted with the phenomenon, after families of arrested young men and women, as well as rabbis, turned to them from time to time and begged for help.
“We intend to eliminate the phenomenon, moving from a phase of providing assistance and assistance to detainees, to action on various levels, including with various elements in European countries, in order to stop these smuggling at all costs,” said the activists behind the smuggling and subsequent arrests. “We do a mitzvah and prevent 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 deceitfully and falsely tempted to go abroad with suitcases full of winepress, began to complain to the Israel Police against their children’s dispatchers.
It is currently known that two complaints have been filed with the Israel Police, and that have already been referred to the State Attorney’s Office for a decision on whether to file an indictment.
Haredim 10 reports that the largest forwarder in the market, a resident of Modi’in Illit, has recently apparently suffered significant damage, since the goods he releases this morning from the Ministry of Agriculture and Customs at Ben Gurion Airport (which is currently under investigation, how this is done illegally) The ultra-Orthodox youths taking off from Ben Gurion Airport were often caught the next day in England.
The two complaints against this smuggler were filed with the Israel Police. Apparently, the decision will most likely be positive.
At a number of airports around the world, the awareness of drug inspectors, customs and security officials has increased – and more smugglers are caught ‘on hot’ upon landing at the destination. For example, in the last month quite a few young smugglers have been caught in England.
The ultra-Orthodox 10 learned that an intelligence source from one of the Middle Eastern countries began to transfer the names of those caught in one country to the other border crossings and airports in European countries. As well as to Europol.
Information received from an official source abroad shows that the amount of smuggling to France, along with the amount of smuggled goods, has increased significantly these days.
An official in France said that since there had been many smuggling to France over the years, law enforcement in the country had begun imposing significant prison sentences.