London’s Metropolitan Police have arrested terror suspect Daniel Khalife after his escape from a London-area prison, officials said Saturday.
Police officers arrested Khalife in the Chiswick area just before 11am local time and he is currently in police custody, the Metropolitan Police said in a statement.
“We thank the public and media for their support,” officials said.
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Khalife, 21, was discharged from the army in May on charges of obtaining information that “might be useful, directly or indirectly, to an enemy” and of perpetrating a bomb hoax by planting three canisters with wires on them placed on a desk.
London police are becoming increasingly confident that a terrorism suspect’s escape is “clearly pre-planned”.
Daniel Khalife is seen in a police mugshot released by the Metropolitan Police Service on September 6, 2023. C (Courtesy of Metropolitan Police Service/Handout via Portal)
He remained in custody while awaiting trial but appeared to have escaped from His Majesty’s Wandsworth Prison just before 8am on Wednesday. Authorities have suspected that his position in the prison’s kitchen gave him access to a food delivery truck, which he strapped himself under as it drove away.
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The presence of straps under the van also suggested Khalife may have “received internal help from prison,” The Independent reported. A security official told the media that “everything points to this being an orchestrated mission and not an opportunistic escape” and that “it is almost certain” that Khalife had “some help.”
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A wanted sign with a picture of Daniel Abed Khalife, a former soldier suspected of terrorist offences, is displayed near Wandsworth Prison, from which he escaped, in London, Britain, September 7, 2023. (Portal/Anna Gordon)
Met police chief Sir Mark Rowley previously told British media that Khalife’s escape from a high-security prison was “clearly pre-planned”.
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Initial reports did not indicate to whom Khalife allegedly passed information, but the BBC revealed on Thursday that Khalife may have been seeking information on Iran’s behalf. He was due to stand trial for his crimes in November.
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Prison guards walk around the sides of a van outside the gates of HM Prison Wandsworth in south London on September 7, 2023, a day after terror suspect Daniel Abed Khalife escaped from prison while awaiting trial. British authorities have issued an all-ports alert to track down a former soldier awaiting trial on terrorism charges after he escaped from prison by clinging to the floor of a van. (Justin Tallis/AFP via Getty Images)
Police conducted a large-scale search for Khalife after his escape on Wednesday. By Friday the search had narrowed to Richmond Park in south-west London, with officers combing the area overnight and into the morning.
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The escape led to calls for Wandsworth Prison to be closed, which a monitoring group had already identified as a “serious problem” before the escape.
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“When you find a prison like Wandsworth it absolutely needs to be closed,” prison inspector Charlie Taylor told Politics Hub on Sky News. “Ultimately, it’s not a suitable prison.”
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“You need prisons because you need to serve the courts,” he added. “We actually have a crisis in prisons right now, just in terms of the number of places … there are just enough prisons and places available for the number of prisoners that are coming in.”