A Jordanian tagged as a former henchman of Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law and believed to be a ranking official of the Al Qaida terrorist group was arrested in Mindanao and will be deported, an official said Thursday.
The 51-year-old Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil is now in government custody. He is said to have been the former henchman of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, one of Osama bin Laden’s brother-in-laws and with deep roots in Al Qaeda as a financier and facilitator who was killed in Madagascar.
“We are going to deport him for being an illegal entrant as he has no record of arrival, Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente said.
Abedeljalil assumed a fictitious name and resorted to misrepresentation and falsification of public documents, which enabled him to reside in the country.”
Government operatives started monitoring the Jordanian’s activities in the country when he and his Algerian companion were flagged down at a military checkpoint in Zamboanga in August last year.
After months of surveillance and case buildup, it was confirmed that the alien had been unlawfully staying in the country. Morente then immediately issued the mission order that led to the Jordanian’s arrest.
Abdeljalil claimed that he returned to the country in 2007 and admitted that he was previously arrested and deported by Immigration in 2003 for having an expired visa and for having been involved in clandestine terrorist activities as a Palestinian under the name Mahmood Afif.
When he was arrested 16 years ago, Abedeljalil served as the point man of Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, who managed several charity organizations in the South that funneled money to Al Qaeda and the Abu Sayyaf Group.
Three years after he was deported, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reportedly froze Khalifa’s bank accounts and financial assets to prevent funds from being laundered further to the terrorist groups.
Although Khalifa was killed in 2007, Abdeljalil continued to extend financial support to the Abu Sayyaf using as fronts several mosques and Madrasah schools that he built in the South and which received Al Qaeda funding from abroad.
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