Ultra-Orthodox man nabbed with 13,000 ecstasy pills

Three suspected dealers to be charged with international trafficking after busted with several kilograms of banned drug

Three ultra-Orthodox Israeli men will be charged Monday with attempting to smuggle thousands of ecstasy pills from Germany to Israel.

The three suspects were arrested last week for allegedly operating an international drug trafficking operation, after a police sting with help from the customs authority.

According to a Walla news report, their traditional ultra-Orthodox apparel didn’t raise suspicions among airport and customs authorities.

One suspect, a 25-year-old man from Netanya, was nabbed upon landing at Ben Gurion Airport in possession of six kilograms — 13,000 pills — of ecstasy in his suitcase and another kilo of “raw drug material of great worth,” according to the ultra-Orthodox news site B’hadrei Haredim. The other two suspects, a 22-year-old man from Beitar Illit and a 26-year-old from Jerusalem, were rounded up shortly afterward.

Throughout the investigation the police remained tight-lipped about details of the affair.

The three men were to be arraigned at the Lod District Court Wednesday.

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