Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Israeli authorities raided a Jerusalem housing complex Monday and captured a suspected cult leader who they say kept dozens of women and children as virtual slaves.
Authorities said an unidentified rabbi sexually exploited the women and abused the children at a residential complex in Jerusalem's Geula neighborhood. Police also detained several women as accomplices.
Some of the captives had been held for 10 years by the Haredi cult, officials said, and some of the women were forced to put their hands into a fire to know what "hell feels like."
The rabbi, said to be in his 60s, was not initially named.
Police said they worked the investigation for two months before Monday's arrests.
The leader kept about 50 women and the captive children ranged in ages between 5 and 11, authorities said.
