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Pacific Islands hunt for cult leader Rocco Leo

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Thursday May 27, 2010

Fijian immigration officials and the Vanuatu Christian Council are hunting fugitive doomsday cult leader Rocco Leo, after receiving information this week that the Agape Ministries pastor could have secretly entered their countries.
“Pastor” or “Brother Roc”, as he is known in Fiji and Vanuatu, escaped the Australian Federal Police security network after raids on his Mt Magnificent compound and Adelaide properties uncovered a hidden cache of firearms and ammunition.
[...]
Police have not released details of their investigations on Mr Leo’s whereabouts, but Fiji’s Immigration Department is investigating a report from Australian police suggesting he may have fled there.
[...]
The Vanuatu Christian Council is on “full alert” for Mr Leo to re-enter rural villages he preached in last year.
Pastor Shem Tema said the council was working closely with government departments to discover if Mr Leo was in the country.
He told the Vanuatu Daily Post that Vanuatu’s government had given the council authority to look into whether fugitives were “hiding” in the country and a threat to orderliness.
[...]
The concern is that villagers in Vanuatu can easily be swayed by any preacher who says he can heal. The Vanuatu Christian Council consists of five mother churches: Presbyterian, Anglican, Roman Catholic, Church of Christ and Apostolic.
[...more...]

- Source / Full Story: Pacific Islands hunt for cult leader Rocco Leo, Bryan Littlely, The Advertiser/Adelaide Now, May 27, 2010 — Summarized by Religion News Blog