El Salvador has extradited to Guatemala and Israel two members of the extremist Jewish sect Lev Tahor, who were under investigation for alleged child sex abuse, authorities announced Thursday.

The cult has been the subject of a months-long probe in Guatemala for the mistreatment of minors. In December 2024, authorities there rescued 160 minors from a farm used by Lev Tahor in Oratorio, southwest of Guatemala City. Lev Tahor, which has accused the government of religious persecution, tried at the time to burst into the compound where the children were taken and recapture them.

Prosecutors in El Salvador announced Thursday that they had extradited Eluzur Rumpler to Israel, though the Israeli government has identified him as Eliezer Rumpler.

Rumpler, a US and Israeli citizen, is accused of mistreating students in education centers under his direction, prosecutors said, without detailing when the alleged offenses occurred. Students were forced to disrobe before being beaten, they said.

Rumpler had been detained in January after entering El Salvador from Guatemala.

Meanwhile, Guatemalan prosecutors announced that Salvadoran authorities had extradited 23-year-old Jonathan Cardona, another sect member, to face allegations of rape, child abuse and human trafficking.

Authorities estimate the Lev Tahor sect comprises roughly 50 families from Guatemala, the United States, Canada and other countries.

Lev Tahor’s name translates to “pure heart,” but its moves, machinations, and plans are all murky and in 2017, an Israeli court described the group as a “dangerous cult.”

The group adheres to an extreme, idiosyncratic interpretation of Judaism and kosher dietary laws that largely shield members from the outside world.

Men spend most of their days in prayer and studying specific portions of the Torah, and women and girls are required to wear black robes that completely cover their bodies.

Founded in Jerusalem in the 1980s, Lev Tahor has been dogged by allegations of child abuse for years. The group jumped borders for years, under scrutiny from authorities, with members seeking refuge at various times in Canada, Iran, Bosnia, and Morocco, among other locations.

They landed in Guatemala in the mid-2010s, setting up a closed compound near the town of Oratorio, close to the border with El Salvador.

The group’s opponents say it has been collapsing since its leadership was imprisoned for a kidnapping case in New York.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.