UK police probe ‘inside job’ for terror suspect escape

An inquiry into how a terror suspect escaped from prison will examine if he had help, according to Britain’s top police officer on Friday.

Daniel Abed Khalife, a former soldier, is thought to have escaped Wandsworth prison on Wednesday by fastening himself to the underside of a delivery lorry.

A nationwide manhunt and an all-ports alert have been launched in response to his absence to stop him from leaving the country.

The hunt, according to Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley on Friday morning, was concentrated around south London’s expansive Richmond Park, close to Wandsworth.

In an interview with LBC radio, he stated that the breakout was “clearly pre-planned.”

“There’s obviously some logistics involved inside,” he continued, “given that he could strap himself onto the bottom of the wagon.”

Just to work out a prison escape and how you can do the logistics of it and get the right equipment and how you’re going to do it is unlikely to be something you do on the spur of the moment

Khalife’s escape has raised more general concerns about prison security in the UK, where staff members claim there is a lack of finance and staffing.

Rowley responded when asked if it might have been an “inside job”

“As part of this investigation, we’re going to look at everything,” was the statement.

At the Royal Air Force (RAF) base in Stafford, central England, close to the army barracks where he resided, Khalife was awaiting trial for two events.

In August 2021, he was charged with “trying to elicit information of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism.”

By deploying a questionable device at the RAF base on January 2 of this year, he was also accused of carrying out a bomb hoax. In May, he received his military discharge.