TIKRIT, Iraq, Feb 13, 2009 – Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s “finance minister” was arrested in the north of the country on Thursday, the police chief in Salaheddin province told AFP.
“The police of Salaheddin province have arrested Munzer Ahmed Soltane, the ‘finance minister’ of the so-called Islamic state of Iraq,” Hamad Namess al-Jubouri said.
“He was arrested in Al-Tamim district of Baiji,” 200 kilometres (125 miles) north of the Iraqi capital, he said.
The police chief said the suspect had confessed to being Al-Qaeda in Iraq’s “finance minister and in charge of distributing funds to insurgents in all the provinces with sympathisers of the Islamic state.”
Salaheddin province, the birthplace of former dictator Saddam Hussein, was a hotbed of insurgents until they were driven out by former rebels who turned against Al-Qaeda.
(source ANTARA/AFP)
