MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / June 11, 2014) – The Philippines said it captured a top terrorist leader long wanted by the Manila and Washington for his link to al-Qaeda.
Khair Mundos, the Abu Sayyaf’s liaison to Osama bin Laden’s group, was captured in a daring operation that took police and military authorities two months to plan until his arrest in a hideout in Parañaque City near the Philippine international airport.
Mundos fled to Manila from the southern region of Mindanao where security forces hunted him down for years. He was arrested in May 2004 and confessed to having arranged the transfer of funds from al-Qaeda to Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadafy Janjalani. But in February 2007, Mundos escaped from the Kidapawan Provincial Jail in North Cotabato province.
The 50-year old Mundos is facing a string of criminal cases ranging from multiple murders to kidnappings and terrorism, according to Chief Superintendent Benjamin Magalong, head of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group.
Mundos, who has $500,000 bounty from the United States, and another P1.2 million or about $27,000 from the Philippine government, is currently being interrogated at the CIDG headquarters in Quezon City.
It was not immediately known if Mundos was hiding alone in Manila or with other terrorists. Military officials said Mundos had received funding from the al-Qaeda to finance Abu Sayyaf bombings in the Philippines.
Mundos was also linked to the 2012 kidnapping of two Chinese iron ore traders Jampong Lin-Yuankai, 38, and Jian Luo, 48, in Zamboanga Sibugay province in southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)
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