Extremist Jewish Students Secretly Construct Tunnel at Brooklyn Synagogue

Nine men arrested as controversy over clandestine project sparks community uproar and false social media claims.

Six extremist students from an ultra-Orthodox Hasidic group secretly hired migrant laborers to help them build a controversial tunnel at the sect’s world headquarters in Crown Heights.
The students were trying to carry out a religious promise to Lubavitcher Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who vowed to expand the sect’s synagogue in 1988.
The controversy over the clandestine construction project exploded earlier this week when members of the community discovered the tunnel and brought in cement workers to fill it in.
Nine men, aged 19 to 21, were arrested for criminal mischief and reckless endangerment after they tried to prevent the laborers from entering the tunnel.
Social media posts have falsely suggested the passage is proof of illicit activities such as child sex trafficking, but there is no credible evidence it was used for the nefarious purposes.