Seven people were indicted in New York on charges of smuggling the drug ecstasy in a scheme that used Chasidic drug couriers to avoid detection by U.S. Customs agents. Young men from Brooklyn’s Williamsburg section and the upstate community of Monsey were offered a free trip to Europe and some $1,500 in exchange for smuggling the drug, according to Tuesday’s indictments. The recruiters believed that the religious dress and appearance of the couriers would spare them searches by customs inspectors, the indictments added.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.