A former British soldier charged with espionage and terrorism who escaped from a London prison Wednesday was caught Saturday, authorities said.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, escaped His Majesty’s Prison (HMP) at Wandsworth at about 7:50 a.m. local time Wednesday, the UK’s Metropolitan Police (Met) said in a statement.
He appeared to have escaped by strapping himself to the underside of a food delivery van which left the prison that morning but freed himself before the police located and searched the van less than an hour after the escape, the police said.
The police engaged the public in the nationwide manhunt and promised a £20,000 (almost $25,000) reward for information leading to his recapture. Khalife was reportedly spotted Friday walking away from the food delivery van at Wandsworth Roundabout, about 1.5 miles from the prison.
The police eventually homed in Saturday on Chiswick, about 7.5 miles from the prison, following intelligence and confirmed sightings.
They apprehended him on a towpath in Northolt, a town near Chiswick and nearly 15 miles from HMP Wandsworth, at 10:41 a.m. local time Saturday. A plainclothes officer spotted him on a pushbike on the towpath and pulled him off it, Commander Dominic Murphy, Head of the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command, told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).
Khalife was charged with escaping Sunday and will face the charge Monday at Westminster Magistrates’ Court, the Met said.
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