The person who gave them the qat was a member of their community and insisted the substance he wanted them to carry was legal.
It's true that qat, a mildly narcotic type of chewing tobacco acceptable and popular in Yemen, is legal in many countries.
But Bulgaria considers it an illegal narcotic.
They guy knew this, but the girls did not.
For those of us old enough to remember, it reminded us of the fiasco with the Jewish boys who unwittingly smuggled illicit substances into Japan, under the impression that they were carrying special art.
Yet these young girls did not know about that fiasco, so it never occurred to them to question whether the qat might actually be a problem.
(The legality of substances differ from country to country. For example, Saudia Arabia considers the popular sedative Xanax illegal. A tourist entering Saudi Arabia with Xanax in their purse or pocket — common for passengers who suffer anxiety while flying — need to make sure they have their doctor's prescription with the Xanax. That's just one example of how touchy this can be.)
With the global Jewish community contributing around a million dollars within a very short timeframe, a commenter named Elisheva wrote in to this blog to propose the idea of cautioning our young people against transporting any kind of substance or material when they travel.
She suggested it be presented as a safety rule, similar to how we teach our children not to accept candy from or get into the car with strangers.
Or how we teach our young women not to enter dark alleys on their own or wander around on their own at night or in remote deserted locations.
I thought it was an excellent idea and still think it's an excellent idea.
With tourist season coming upon us (Pesach, Spring break, the upcoming Summer vacation), we warn any young people we know AGAINST transporting anything for anyone, no matter how much the person insists it's legal and even if the person insists it's art (rather than illicit substances) and no matter how good a reason the person has ("It's just so I won't pay an extraneous tax or fine") and no matter how much the person is willing to pay the young innocent tourist ("I'll cover your entire airfare, plus hotels").
Young people need to be warned and told of these awful stories that happened to young, even frum travelers, who though they were innocently making easy money while doing a fellow Jew a big favor.
It doesn't have to be your child.
It can be any young person you hear is traveling abroad.
Even just a pleasant, casual "Hey, did you hear about those bachurim in Japan in the Nineties? Or those Israeli girls in Bulgaria?" (The girls, living on their own, were from frum families and because they lived alone, they're parents didn't even know they'd decided to travel abroad, and so couldn't even warn them.)
Just say something.
Whether you know them or not, just say something.
It could save them a tremendous amount of anguish and save the Jewish community a tremendous amount of anguish and money.