Missing Agape Ministries member John Mouhalos extradited from Victoria

The Advertiser, Australia/April 11, 2013

A Senior member of an Adelaide doomsday cult has been extradited to South Australia after almost three years listed as a missing person.

John Mouhalos was known as a senior member of the controversial Agape Ministries, under the leadership of Rocco Leo - who fled to Fiji while owing millions of dollars to the Australian Taxation Office.

Mouhalos went missing in May 2010, the day after heavily armed police raided the Agape headquarters at Oakden.

In a series of raids at different Agape-owned properties, police seized batons, fuses, detonators, detonator cords and thousands of rounds of high-powered ammunition.

Major Fraud detectives arrested four men including Leo and charged them with firearms offences.

Cult members were told the world would come to an end by 2012 when microchips would be implanted into all people, and that their money would be used to buy a Pacific island where they would build their own colony.

Members paid at least 10 per cent of their income to the cult leaders and some claimed to have been menaced and threatened if they spoke of leaving the group.

They also claimed followers had been trained in marksmanship at a church-owned property in the Adelaide Hills.

Police had initial fears for Mouhalos's safety when he was reported missing and will now question him on his movements over the past three years.

The 55-year-old has been extradited to face charges of breaching the conditions of a suspended prison sentence imposed in April 2010.

Mouhalos was placed on a good behaviour bond in April 2010 after being convicted of aggravated assault and possessing a firearm without a licence.

The former finance broker had threatened a man who owed him $50,000 and had further charges of blackmail withdrawn against him.

Police issued a warrant for his arrest in May last year and he is expected to appear in Adelaide Magistrates Court on Friday.

Rocco Leo also has a warrant for his arrest and since fleeing has been prosecuted by the tax office.

Leo has also been the subject of lawsuits by former cult members.

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