Update on Daniel Khalife jail break TODAY as ‘terrorist’ lag still on the run 24 hours after escape from HMP Wandsworth
THE government will give an update on the hunt for escaped terror suspect Daniel Khalife this morning.
Khalife, 21, broke out of HMP Wandsworth yesterday morning after clinging to the underside of a food delivery van.
A manhunt has now been launched for the former soldier, who was awaiting trial for terror offences.
Airports and ports have been placed on high alert as anti-terror police scrambled to stop the prisoner leaving UK soil.
Justice Secretary Alex Chalk will deliver a statement in the House of Commons at 11.30am today.
It is not clear what he is announcing, but it is likely to be an update on the search for the missing prisoner.
Questions have mounted over how Khalife managed to escape the prison in South London so easily.
The British citizen was working in the kitchen when he escaped in a chef’s uniform of a white T-shirt, red and white chequered trousers and brown steel toecap boots.
He is thought to have used makeshift straps to attach himself to the truck as it was waved out of the notorious lock-up.
A prison source told The Times staff at the Victorian Cat-B slammer realised Khalife was missing at around 7am – almost an hour before cops were alerted.
The hunt has sparked chaos nationwide as additional security checks at airports cause delays.
An alert was sent to all UK airports and ports after the Counterterrorism Command was told about the missing lag.
Khalife, who was attached to the Royal Signal Corps before being discharged, is accused of leaving fake bombs at an RAF base in January.
He vanished for more than three weeks after the bomb hoax before being arrested on January 26.
Another charge, under the Official Secrets Act, alleges Khalife collected personal information about soldiers from an MoD computer system that could be useful to an enemy.
He was being held on remand at Wandsworth prison and was due to stand trial on November 20.