Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) leader Khair Mundos, alleged financier of the bandit group’s al-Qaeda-linked operations, was caught by authorities at a house on A. Bonifacio Street, Barangay San Dionisio in Parañaque City on Wednesday morning, the Philippine National Police said.
The 50-year-old Mundos, who is in the US State Department’s most wanted list, has a $500,000 bounty on his head. He was arrested after two months of surveillance by the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the Intelligence Security Forces of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (ISAFP).
Mundos was jailed in 2004 after he was arrested for money laundering. The charges were the result of a joint investigation by US and Philippine officials.
According to the US State Department, Mundos admitted facilitating the transfer of funds for “bombings and other criminals acts” from the al-Qaeda to Abu Sayyaf Group leader Khadaffy Janjalani in Mindanao.
Mundos escaped from the Kidapawan provincial jail in February 2007. Since then, security forces had been hunting for him in Mindanao, where the ASG is based.
