2023-09-09 20:03:00
A former British soldier prosecuted for terrorist offenses and suspected of espionage, Daniel Khalife, was arrested on Saturday in London after three days of a run which captivated the United Kingdom.
“Metropolitan Police officers have arrested Daniel Khalife, who escaped from Wandsworth Prison on September 6,” London police said in a statement.
He was arrested shortly before 11:00 a.m. in an area of west London, where his presence had been reported on Saturday evening, and is in police custody, Scotland Yard said.
He was thus arrested “about 75 hours” after his disappearance. A delay “rather fast given the difficulties in trying to find this individual,” Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the London counter-terrorism police, told reporters.
He was arrested by an undercover policeman while cycling on a path along a canal, and showed himself during his arrest “fully cooperative, was handcuffed and arrested”, he added.
The police had promised up to 20,000 pounds sterling (23,000 euros) for any information leading “directly” to his arrest.
His arrest puts an end to a three-day manhunt, the slightest upheavals of which were followed by the British media.
The police had deployed a very large device, fearing that he would manage to leave the country.
Since the G20 summit in India, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak welcomed the news to British television channels, thanking the police for their “terrific work” and the “public for their help”.
The 21-year-old is suspected of having collected intelligence that could be used by terrorists or enemies of the United Kingdom. According to several media, including the BBC, he is suspected of having acted for the benefit of Iran.
“Clearly prepared”
This escape caused amazement and raised questions about the security of the prison system.
Daniel Khalife escaped by clinging to a truck that came to make a delivery for the prison kitchen, where he worked. Straps were found under the vehicle, suggesting he became attached to it.
The escape was “clearly prepared in advance”, said London police chief Mark Rowley on Friday.
Daniel Khalife is being prosecuted for facts dating back to January and August 2021, at a Royal Air Force base in Stafford, in central England.
He is accused of having obtained or attempted to obtain information “about an individual who was or has been a member” of the British army, “likely to be of use to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism” .
He is also being prosecuted for a false bomb threat on January 2. He was kicked out of the army in May.
He contests the charges against him.
The fugitive caught, “the judicial process must be able to resume its course”, noted in a press release the Minister of Justice Alex Chalk.
“Nothing should be said or done that influences a future trial,” he added, stressing that the investigations he has requested into the security level of the prison establishment and the choice to have Daniel locked up there Khalife are in progress.
“I will spare no effort to shed full light” on how these facts could have occurred, he added.
Before the deputies on Thursday, the minister had promised that the fugitive would be arrested and brought to justice.
Labor MP Rosena Allin-Khan had denounced in Parliament the inadequate and dangerous working conditions of prison staff in this establishment, citing insufficient staff.
Wandsworth Prison was once the scene of one of the country’s best-known escapes, that of Ronnie Biggs, in 1965, who was serving a 30-year sentence for the attack on the Glasgow-London mail train two years ago previously.
After making out with a rope ladder, he lived abroad for 36 years, notably in Australia and Brazil, before being arrested in 2001 upon his voluntary return to the United Kingdom. Released for medical reasons in 2009, he died in 2013.
09/09/2023 20:01:37 – London (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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