Soldier accused of planting pretend bombs escapes from jail clinging to supply van

A former British Army officer escaped a London jail by clinging on to the straps of a meals supply van whereas carrying a chef’s uniform.

Suspected terrorist Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, was being held on remand after being accused of planting pretend bombs at a army base.

He fled from HMP Wandsworth at 7.50am on Wednesday, with jail officers elevating the alarm with the Metropolitan Police.

Airports and ports, together with Heathrow and Dover, have tightened safety measures and are experiencing delays after an alert was issued to all border crossings.

The head of the Met’s counter-terrorism command have launched an pressing attraction for data and have warned individuals to not strategy the suspect.

Khalife, being held over costs regarding terrorism and Official Secrets Act offences, was final seen carrying a white t-shirt, purple and white chequered trousers and brown metal toe cap boots.

The Met launched an image of darkish haired Khalife, describing him as slim construct, with brief brown hair and is round 6ft 2ins tall.

Police stated that Khalife has hyperlinks to the Kingston space and imagine he most certainly stays within the London space right now, though he might have travelled additional afield.

Khalife appeared on the Old Bailey in late July the place he denied the fees he’s going through, which embrace a bomb hoax at an RAF base.

It is claimed that he positioned “three cannisters with wires on a desk in his accommodation” with the intention of inducing in one other a perception this was “likely to explode or ignite and thereby cause personal injury or damage to property”.

He can be accused of eliciting or attempting to elicit data that could possibly be helpful for a terrorist on August 2 2021, and breaching the Official Secrets Act by gathering data that could possibly be helpful to an enemy between May 1 2019 and January 6 2022.

A trial date has been set for November 13 at Woolwich Crown Court.

Khalife is known to have joined the British Army in 2018 and labored as a pc community engineer the place he was based mostly at Ministry of Defence’s Stafford army base – also called Beacon Barracks.

A courtroom beforehand heard that he disappeared from the barracks on 2 January after the alleged bomb hoax earlier than he was arrested “arrested in or near his car” on 26 January.

The MoD confirmed that he was discharged from the Army in May of this 12 months, because of the fees he was going through.

His escape from Wandsworth jail had a knock-on impact of disrupting courtroom hearings for different defendants on the Old Bailey, together with a suspected assassin.

A jail officer advised Judge Alexia Durran by way of video-call: “We have got an operational emergency and no movement across the establishment. No bodies are being moved due to the severity of the matter.”

Justice Secretary Alex Chalk has held an pressing name with the jail governor and senior workers within the jail service to hunt assurances about what’s being carried out to make sure the jail is safe.

Meanwhile, Labour demanded that the Government “urgently” clarify Khalife’s escape and to make sure there isn’t any “wider risk” to the general public.

If seen, the general public are suggested to not strategy Khalife and to name 999 instantly.

Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command stated: “We have a team of officers who are making extensive and urgent enquiries in order to locate and detain Khalife as quickly as possible.

“However, the public can help us as well and should anyone see Khalife, or have any information as to where he might be, then please call 999 or the immediately.

“I also want to reassure the public that we have no information which indicates, nor any reason to believe that Khalife poses a threat to the wider public, but our advice if you do see him is not to approach him and call 999 straight away.”

More follows on this breaking information story