On Wednesday Daniel Khalife escape from Wandsworth Prison by hiding under a lorry at 8am and it is believed he could try and flee the UK.
There is a “nationwide manhunt” for Khalife who is a former British Army soldier who would have been trained how to Survive, Evade, Resist and Extract known as SERE.
All UK military personnel are taught escape and evasion at a basic level which is a core aspect of their training.
Khalife, 21, escaped Wandsworth category B prison on Wednesday wearing a cook’s uniform and this has sparked extra security checks at all UK airports and ports.
Kent Police said on Thursday that junctions 8 and 9 on the M20 which is the approach to Dover, were temporarily closed amid enhanced security checks for freight which is heading to Europe.
Khalife is awaiting trial for planting a fake bomb at an RAF base and has been accused of gathering information which could be useful for terrorists and was kicked out of the Army in May this year.
The former head of security at Wandsworth, Professor Ian Acheson said his escape is a “catastrophic” system failure.
He told the BBC, “It’s incredibly embarrassing for the prison service but it’s not entirely surprising given what we know about what’s going on Wandsworth at the moment.”
Professor Acheson added that Wandsworth is in “freefall.
“I mean, frankly, if you cannot even manage to get the bins emptied in a place like Wandsworth what else is going wrong?”
The Prime Minister was asked why was Khalife not in a category A prison, such as HMP Belmarsh, Rishi Sunak said, “First thing I want to say is thankfully these incidences are extremely rare.
“I can’t give too many details because there’s an ongoing police operation, I hope people will understand that, but I want to reassure people that public safety is of course, our paramount responsibility.
“The Justice Secretary (Alex Chalk) has initiated already an internal inquiry into the specific circumstances around this particular individual and this case but the most important thing now is for anyone if they have any information at all that they think is relevant to please contact the police.”
