Iraqi authorities made an arrest so large they had to load it onto a flatbed truck.

An Iraqi SWAT team arrested 560-pound Islamic State preacher Abu Abdul Bari, also known as Shifa al Nima, this week in Mosul. The extremist ideologue was transported in the back of a truck.

The Iraqi government said the large jihadi is a top ISIS leader known for “provocative speeches against the security forces,” according to a statement by the Iraqi government.

Bari issued religious decrees, known as fatwas, that ordered the execution of clerics and scholars who refused to pledge loyalty to the brutal terrorist group.

He also ordered the 2014 demolition of a mosque built on the site believed to be the burial spot for the biblical prophet Jonah. As ISIS came to power in the region, its clerics ordered the destruction of many cultural sites, ruining centuries of history.



Latest photos for #ISIS Mufti. He was the strongest supporter of demolishing Mosul heritage. He used to give the Friday Sermon in my neighborhood. He cheered up in the very Friday after the blowing of Prophet Jonah Mosque in the early days of their invasion.

📷 Social media https://t.co/VWOCR4nmJE pic.twitter.com/zGYoVSuAaF — Ali Y. Al-Baroodi (@AliBaroodi) January 16, 2020



Maajid Nawaz, founder of anti-extremism group Quilliam, said that images of the arrest are likely humiliating for ISIS.

“Do not underestimate the psychological blow the image of this obese monster being arrested is to ISIS. Gluttony is frowned upon by jihadists. But, also, ISIS branded themselves as fighters possessing rare courage & discipline... meanwhile this walrus was their top religious cleric,” he said in a Facebook post.

Macer Gifford, an anti-ISIS activist who fought with a Kurdish militia in Syria, hailed Bari’s arrest on social media and pointed out that the terrorist’s weight may cause some trouble at the gallows.

“I’m delighted to say that the Islamic State’s very own Jabba the [Hutt] has been captured,” Gifford said. “Good luck hanging him in Iraq.”