Messianic pair arrested over pill scam
THE COMMUNITY centre of a Chasidic group that believes the last Lubavitcher Rebbe is the Messiah, was raided by police on Monday as part of an international criminal investigation into fake slimming and impotency pills.
Beis Menachem in Oldhill Street, Hackney, was one of seven properties in London and Watford searched by officers. A 62-year-old man from Hackney and a 34-year-old man from Barnet were arrested on suspicion of money laundering, fraud and supplying false information to the Charity Commission.
Forces in Austria, Spain and France, who have been investigating the sale of counterfeit medicines for the past two years, also made arrests in other countries this week.
Victims paid an estimated £12 million for “potentially lethal” slimming, antismokingandimpotencypillsviaaround 400 websites, according to police.
Card payments ended up in bank accounts believed by police to belong to the two men arrested in London, who have been bailed to return to a police station in January. The police believe that they have laundered money through a local charity.
Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Manson of the Metropolitan Police’s Specialist , Organised and Economic Crime Command, said the operation was “about taking down a highly organised crime group who make an incredible amount of money by selling potentially harmful drugs to unsuspecting members of the public, some of whom are in the UK.” The products were“peddledonveryprofessionallooking websites which feature convincing medical advice,” he warned, “but the people behind them have no medical training.”
Around 300,000 illegal pills have been seized by police on the Continent. Officers in the UK also found £30,000 in cash during their searches.
Beis Menachem is the headquarters of a group calling itself Chabad UK, part of the messianic wing of Lubavitch which believes its last Rebbe, Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who died 20 years ago, is the Messiah in waiting and is destined to return.
Britain’smainstreamLubavitchmovement, Chabad Lubavitch UK, this week reacted to the raids by issuing a statement to warn against confusion with the other group, which launched a High Holy Day appeal for funds on Monday.
Chabad Lubavitch UK said that the fundraising letters sent out by Chabad UK were “just the latest in a string of incidents, which in our view could amount to a misleading of Chabad Lubavitch’s supporters. They are an entirely separate organisation from us with important theological differences.
“Despite numerous attempts by us and by our lawyers to stop them from fundraisingwithoutmakingitclearthat they are not a part of the official Chabad Lubavitch organisation, they have ignored our appeals at every stage.”