Israeli Mother and Daughter Arrested in Namibia for Forged Passports

The mother and daughter, aged 50 and 23 respectively, were previously the focus of an extensive international search after disappearing in Europe in August 2026. They had traveled from Prague to Vienna, where they emptied their rented apartment, left their phones near a train station, and deleted tracking applications. After a week of searches involving the Lahav 433 unit, they were located unharmed on a bus heading to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

During the previous incident, the women told investigators they had cut off contact voluntarily to start a new life, with Cursorinfo reporting they left due to Mali's debts of over 200,000 shekels. Mali had reportedly planned the disappearance for over a year using her pension funds, and her daughter willingly joined her. Following their discovery in Argentina, an Israeli police representative cleared them of any criminal suspicion or danger, and they were released.

Their family in Israel expressed shock at the news of their arrest in Africa, stating they had no prior knowledge of the women's presence in Namibia. Israeli authorities are now seeking to understand why the pair required forged travel documents, which Now 14 reported were fake Hungarian passports, after being cleared in South America.