MANILA (Reuters) – An influential evangelist preacher from the Philippines accused of sex trafficking and sexual abuse has been arrested, the interior minister said on Sunday.
Apollo Quiboloy, self-proclaimed “owner of the universe” and “appointed son of god”, is wanted on charges of child and sexual abuse and related allegations of human trafficking. He has denied wrongdoing.
“Apollo Quiboloy has been caught,” Interior Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. said on his Facebook page, without specifying how or where he had been.
The pastor is also on the FBI’s “most wanted” list in the United States on separate charges of sex trafficking and bulk cash smuggling, over which he has also denied wrongdoing.
Over 2,000 police were deployed last month to search a sprawling compound in the southern city of Davao owned by Quiboloy’s church, the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC), on suspicion that he was hiding there in a bunker.
Quiboloy is followed by millions of people in the Philippines, where church leaders hold heavy sway in politics. He is a longtime friend of former president Rodrigo Duterte.
(Reporting by Mikhail Flores; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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