Published September 08,2024
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The Philippines mentioned it arrested Sunday a pastor wished within the United States for baby intercourse trafficking, two weeks into a large police manhunt for the self-proclaimed “Appointed Son of God”.
Apollo Quiboloy, who has shut relations with former president Rodrigo Duterte, is the founding father of the Philippines-based Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) church which claims thousands and thousands of members.
He was charged by the US Justice Department in 2021 with intercourse trafficking of women and girls between the ages of 12 and 25 to work as private assistants, or “pastorals”, who had been allegedly required to have intercourse with him.
Quiboloy and 4 different sect members had been taken into custody on the church’s compound within the southern metropolis of Davao following negotiations between his representatives and the police and navy, Philippine police spokeswoman Colonel Jean Fajardo informed reporters.
“This afternoon they negotiated their peaceful surrender after we gave them a 24-hour ultimatum,” Fajardo mentioned.
Four hours later Quiboloy and the 4 sect members had been flown by navy plane to Manila, the place they are going to be detained to face trial for “child abuse, sexual abuse and qualified (human) trafficking”, Fajardo added.
Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos earlier Sunday introduced Quiboloy’s arrest on his official Facebook web page.
Quiboloy can also be sought by US authorities for bulk money smuggling and a scheme that introduced church members to the United States utilizing fraudulently obtained visas.
They had been then compelled to solicit donations for a bogus charity, elevating funds that had been as a substitute used to finance church operations and the lavish life of its leaders, in accordance with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
It shouldn’t be recognized if the United States has sought the extradition of Quiboloy, aged not less than 74 in accordance with the FBI.
A US embassy spokesman referred media queries to the Philippine authorities.
– ‘Concerted effort’ –
“This is a concerted effort of everyone involved,” Brigadier-General Nicolas Torre, the regional police chief who led the manhunt, informed reporters at a news convention confirming the Quiboloy’s arrest.
“Let’s be proud. We did our job today.”
During his months-long flight from justice, Quiboloy demanded a written assure from Manila that he wouldn’t be topic to “extraordinary rendition” as a situation for his give up.
The time period refers to a US authorities apply of sending detained suspected members of terror organisations to a different nation for imprisonment and interrogation.
Some 2,000 police had been deployed on the KOJC headquarters in Davao on August 24 to serve an arrest warrant towards Quiboloy.
Duterte and his daughter — incumbent Vice President Sara Duterte who has had a falling out with President Ferdinand Marcos — had publicly criticised the police search contained in the sect’s 30-hectare (70-acre) property.
The vp condemned “the gross abuse of police power in the takeover of the KOJC compound”, and apologised to sect members for having requested them to elect Marcos to the presidency, saying “you deserve better”.
Minutes after Quiboloy’s arrest was introduced, SMNI, a Philippine tv station run by his sect, posted on its Facebook web page footage of members embracing uniformed cops.
“After all the pains and struggles, it is evident that the KOJC missionaries have embraced Pastor Apollo Quiboloy’s teaching to love not only their neighbours but even their enemies,” it mentioned in a message accompanying the images.
Source: www.anews.com.tr