Police on Wednesday detained several residents of Yavne’el in northern Israel on suspicion of secretly marrying dozens of minors to one another, a practice law enforcement believes has been ongoing for years in the northern town.

Members of Yavne’el’s ultra-Orthodox Breslov sect have been reported to systematically marry off girls as young as 12 to husbands, some their age and others much older, pointing to alleged widespread child sexual abuse in the community.

The raid came after a months-long investigation into underage marriages performed within a “small, closed community,” police said.

Community members suspected of playing matchmaker, organizing weddings, and conducting the ceremonies were detained for interrogation, police said, without specifying the number of suspects.

Several minors believed to have been married in recent months were also detained for questioning, police said.

Organizers allegedly went out of their way to conceal these weddings from the public eye, limiting the number of guests and barring those in attendance from bringing their cellphones to ceremonies, usually held early in the morning.

Children raised in the community are taught to marry and conceive young as part of the group’s........

© The Times of Israel