Hundreds of cops in the Philippines backed by riot squads raided a vast religious compound in Davao on Saturday (Aug 24) in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking.

Hundreds of cops in the Philippines backed by riot squads raided a vast religious compound in Davao on Saturday (Aug 24) in search of a local preacher accused of sexual abuse and human trafficking. According to a report by the news agency Associated Press on Sunday, the accused preacher was identified as Apollo Quiboloy. He leads the group Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC). The report said that during the raid, a supporter of the KOJC died due to a heart attack. The police said that the raid was live-streamed online by a local TV network owned by the group. The police also said that the death was not related to the police operations. Quiboloy nowhere to be found The police brought equipment that could detect people behind cement walls. But by mid-afternoon, they found no sign of Apollo Quiboloy in the compound. His followers, many of whom filmed the raid, yelled at the police, questioning the legality of the raid and pronouncing the innocence of the preacher. Police Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III, who led the raid, said officers wanted to serve warrants for the arrest of Quiboloy for various criminal cases, including child abuse and human trafficking. Justifying the massive deployment at the compound Brig. Gen. Torre told reporters that there were more than 40 buildings and structures to be searched in the compound, where large numbers of Quiboloy’s followers heckled and opposed the raid noisily. “We won’t leave here until we get him,” he added and pointed out that the police had no bail warrants for Quiboloy and four others for very grave crimes, including human trafficking, child abuse and other cases. Who is Apollo Quiboloy? Apollo Quiboloy was born on April 25, 1950, and founded the KOJC in 1985. Quiboloy claims to be the appointed son of God. In 2019, he claimed he stopped a major earthquake from hitting the southern Philippines. He was a close supporter and spiritual advisor of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte. This is not the first time that Quiboloy has faced accusations of sexual abuse. In 2021, federal prosecutors in the United States announced the indictment of Quiloboy for allegedly having sex with women and underage girls who faced threats of abuse and “eternal damnation” unless they catered to the self-proclaimed “son of God.” Quiboloy and two of his top administrators were among nine people named in a superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury and unsealed in November 2021. The KOJC said that its leader was ready to face the charges in court, but he went into hiding after a Philippine court ordered his arrest and several others for child and sexual abuse. The Philippine Senate has separately ordered Quiboloy’s arrest for refusing to appear in committee hearings that were looking into criminal allegations against him. (With inputs from agencies)

Hundreds of cops in Philippines raid religious compound in search of preacher accused of sexual abuse

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Hundreds of cops in Philippines raid religious compound in search of preacher accused of sexual abuse