Three Israelis were arrested over the weekend in Colombia, along with 15
others, on suspicion of involvement in sex trafficking in the tourist city of
Cartagena that included the sexual exploitation of more than 250 women and
girls, Israel’s Ynet news reported.
It’s reported that Colombian authorities also asked Interpol to arrest a former
Israel soldier deported from Colombia for running a child prostitution ring.
Authorities claimed that even after his expulsion, 44-year-old Israeli citizen
Assi Ben-Mosh continued to manage his illicit operations in Colombia from afar.
Mosh was deported to Israel after it was discovered that he was part of a
group of ex-Israeli soldiers that had turned a small fishing village in Taganga
into a “sex and drug den” from their base in a luxury resort, the Benjamin
Hostel which was known to locals as “little Israel”.
From “little Israel” Moosh is reported to have run similar clubs exploiting
drugs and children in Cartagena, Bogotá, Medellín, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil.
Local residents spoke of their relief following his arrest and deportation last
November and thought they had seen the back of the former Israeli soldier.
Colombian authorities said that Moosh had harmed the security of the state
and its citizens. Reports identified Moosh who was also accused of a number of
other charges including tax fraud, drug offenses and inciting children to
prostitution.
Moosh denies any connection to the tourism sex ring and, according to
Israeli sources, he is currently waging a legal battle to return to Colombia.
The bust over the weekend followed months of surveillance. Authorities said
that it was one of the biggest operations to combat child sex trafficking and
forced prostitution in Cartagena. In a statement, the attorney general’s office
described the victims as “real slaves of the 21st century”.
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