About 20 members of the Lev Tahor cult escaped the government shelter where they had been housed since 17 members of the cult were arrested in a raid on a local immigration facility near the border with Guatemala last Friday.
According to local reports, the cult members overpowered the guards at the shelter and stepped over one guard who had fallen during their escape Wednesday night.
The cult members entered a getaway truck which was waiting just outside for them and which took them towards the Mexico-Guatemala border.
Efforts had been made to convince the families which belonged to the cult to move to Israel following the raid last Friday. The efforts were unsuccessful.
26 cult members were found in the raid. Two of them, a Canadian citizen and an Israeli citizen, were arrested on suspicion of human trafficking and serious sexual offenses punishable by about 20 years in prison.