Israel arrests citizen suspected of trafficking women to U.K.

The Police International Crime and Investigations Unit (ICIU) on Monday arrested Meir Mizrachi, an Israeli citizen residing in the U.K., on suspicion of trafficking women from Israel for prostitution.

Mizrachi, 58, of Beit Dagan, near Rishon Letzion, was arrested in Manchester along with another suspect. The prime suspect, however, is still sought after by U.K. authorities.

About a year ago, Mizrachi allegedly published a job advert, which appealed to "young, pretty women looking for a lucrative job." He interviewed the so-called candidates and was the owner of the Manchester house that served as a brothel.

A preliminary police investigation, opened following a complaint filed by the Hotline for Migrant Workers, revealed that Mizrachi, whose mobile number was written on the advert, had left Israel and could not be located.

But upon arriving in Israel for a visit on Monday, he was detained. It emerges that the suspect has been running a women trafficking network together with a fugitive suspect, who was under police investigation in Israel in 2003, and fled to the U.K.

Meanwhile, police tracked down a few women in their twenties, who allegedly made contact with the suspect during his previous visit to Israel. They told police that when they realized what the nature of the job offer was, they declined it. There were, however, other women who decided to accept it, and were flown to Manchester and made to work in prostitution.

This is the second case of women trafficking from Israel to be exposed by the ICIU. In the previous case, Angelique Gaultier-Sebag of Nazareth was arrested on suspicion of employing up to 10 women who were persuaded to work in prostitution in Ireland. She was indicted and is still in custody.