BI to deport Jordanian linked to bin Laden’s brother-in-law

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is set to deport a Jordanian man, an alleged former henchman of the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, a few weeks after he was arrested in Zamboanga City.  

Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, is now under custody of the government pending his deportation after the BI, military and police operatives arrested him last July 4, according to Immigration Commissioner Jaime Morente. 

He said the Jordanian is “an illegal entrant” who did not show his record of arrival after his previous arrest and deportation in 2003. Back then, he was kicked out of the country for being an undesirable alien.

“Abdeljalil assumed a fictitious name and resorted to misrepresentation and falsification of public documents, which enabled him to reside in the country,” Morente pointed out.

Before his arrest, Morente said they had been monitoring Abdeljalil’s activities in the country when he and his Algerian companion were flagged down at a military checkpoint in Zamboanga in August 2018. 

Morente also said the operatives have conducted “intensive surveillance and case build up” against him and confirmed that he has been unlawfully staying in the Philippines, prompting the BI to issue a mission order against him. ?He added that Abdeljalil claimed that he returned to the Philippines in 2007 and admitted that he was previously arrested and deported in 2003 for using an expired visa and for his involvement in clandestine terrorist activities as a Palestinian named “Mahmood Afif.” 

Quoting authorities, the BI said that Abdeljalil had served as the point man of Saudi businessman Mohammed Jamal Khalifa, bin Laden’s brother-in-law, in managing several charity organizations in the south that funneled money to al-Qaeda and the Abu Sayyaf group.   – With Rudy Santos, Roel Pareño