Philippine competent agencies have arrested a Jordanian tagged as a former henchman of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, said the Bureau of Immigration on 1 August.

A photo of Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil when he stayed in the Philippines in 2003 (Photo: EPA-EFE)

Xinhua news agency reported that Mahmoud Afif Abdeljalil, 51, is being detained after his arrest on 4 July in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines.

Abdeljalil assumed a fictitious name and resorted to misrepresentation and falsification of public documents which enabled him to reside in the country.

Authorities started monitoring Abdeljalil's activities when he and his unidentified Algerian companion were flagged down at a military checkpoint in Zamboanga in August last year. He is going to be deported for being an illegal entrant as he has no record of arrival.

Abdeljalil was arrested in 2003 and deported for his alleged involvement in financing operations for the al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah terror networks.

During his arrest in 2003, authorities tagged Abdeljalil as al-Qaeda operative and close associate of Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, Mohammed Khalifa, who spread bin Laden's influence in southern Philippines during the 1990s.

During questioning, Abdeljalil claimed that he returned to the Southeast Asian country in 2007.

Abdeljalil is the second al-Qaeda suspect arrested in the Philippines this year. Last month, Philippine police also arrested a Kenyan man, Cholo Abdi Abdullah, in Iba town in Zambales, northwest of Manila. Police alleged that Abdullah is affiliated with the al-Qaeda terror group called Al Shabaab Group operating in East Africa where he has been a member since 2012.

(Source: VNA)