UNLIKELY SUSPECTS IN DRUG TRAFFICKING

Every international drug dealer needs a stable of reliable couriers.
but few have come up with a more unexpected set than Sean Erez, a 31-
year-old Israeli.

Mr. Erez pleaded guilty last week in Brooklyn federal court to using
young Hasidic men and women, most ages 18 to 20, to carry Ecstasy into
the United States. The Hasidim comprise a number of Jewish sects that
originated in Eastern Europe in the 18th century; the men wear the
distinctive garb of that era, including formal hats and long black
coats, and tend to have side curls and beards. Recruited from Hasidic
neighborhoods in New York State, Mr. Erez's mules were usually told
they would be smuggling diamonds, although prosecutors said some knew
they were carrying drugs. Most were paid $1,500 on delivery of up to
45,000 pills, federal officials said.

Mr. Erez fled from New York to Amsterdam in 1998 but was extradited to
Brooklyn in February. He allegedly learned his trade from an
Amsterdam-based dealer, Oded Tuito, who also used a creative
collection of couriers: senior citizens, strippers and, in one case, a
mentally retarded teenager.