Daniel Khalife ‘laughed and winked’ after being arrested by armed police
Terror suspect Daniel Khalife ‘laughed and winked’ at police and witnesses as he was finally captured on Saturday, it was reported.
A four-day manhunt for the former soldier who escaped from Wandsworth prison ended on the towpath of the Grand Union Canal in west London.
After a mass land and air search, the 21-year-old was detained at about 10.41am after being pulled off a push bike by undercover counter terrorism officer.
Witnesses recalled Khalife laughing and claiming his innocence to the undercover police.
Student Ethan Andrews stopped in his tracks to film the dramatic arrest and asked officers if it was indeed the same man he had seen in news reports.
‘The guy looked up at me, winked and started laughing. I thought, how arrogant is that?’ he told The Sun.
‘I cannot believe he was just sitting there, looked at me and just winked.’
Meanwhile, another witness said he tried to claim he was innocent and said: ‘It is not me. I have not done anything.’
A third person stressed he ‘showed no emotion’ and appeared ‘resigned’, so his arrest went ‘pretty easily’.
Metropolitan Police said Khalife was arrested on suspicion of being unlawfully at large and being an escaped prisoner.
He was apprehended on the canal towpath, which is some eight miles from where he was last seen by a member of the public, and is now in police custody.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk said that around 40 inmates of the Category B prison from where Khalife escaped have been moved out.
He told Sky News: ‘Out of an abundance of caution some prisoners there, some of those on remand, have been moved (this week).
‘Additional resources have of course gone into Wandsworth, so there is additional governor support, a former governor with particular expertise in security.
‘But also, out of an abundance of caution, around 40 prisoners have been moved just while we get to the bottom of what took place in Wandsworth.
‘That is a sensible, precautionary measure.’
Mr Chalk has launched an investigation into what he described as a ‘rare’ escape, but he stressed that security protocols were in place and there were enough staff patrolling the jail on the day.
He stressed he has ‘absolute confidence’ in prison officials, despite a number of past warnings about understaffing at Wandsworth.
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