Iranian pair arrested in Namibia with fake passports reportedly posed as Israelis, were misidentified as Mali and Liel Yahalomi

Two Iranian women detained in Namibia for traveling with fake Hungarian passports reportedly posed as Israelis and were misidentified by law enforcement overnight as Mali and Liel Yahalomi, the mother and daughter who fled Israel in August for personal reasons, sparking an international hunt.

Israel Police sources cited by Hebrew media this morning said Namibian counterparts alerted them that Mali and Liel Yahalomi were arrested in the southwest African nation and had changed their appearances.

Mali’s brother told the Israel Hayom newspaper that the family had not received any official notice of the arrest.

Upon further investigation, an Israel Police representative discovered the women arrested in Namibia were not Israeli at all, according to later reports.

Mali, 50, and Liel, 23, disappeared in Vienna in August, initially sparking concern that they were victims of foul play. Police tracked them to a flight to Argentina and located them on a bus in Buenos Aires, but the women refused to return to Israel.