UK manhunt continues for terror suspect who escaped prison

British authorities have vowed to track down a terror suspect who escaped prison and was still on the loose on Thursday.

Former soldier Daniel Abed Khalife was being held in pretrial detention in Wandsworth Prison in London when he escaped on Wednesday.

Authorities believe he may have clung to the bottom of a delivery van.

"Daniel Khalife will be found and he will be made to face justice," UK Justice Secretary Alex Chalk told the lower house of parliament on Thursday.

The prison break has prompted heightened security at major transport hubs.

Extra security checks were introduced at airports, while police also searched lines of trucks at the Port of Dover, the main crossing from the UK to France.

Who is Daniel Khalife?

Khalife, 21, is a former British soldier who was discharged from the army in May.

He is accused of eliciting or trying to elicit information that is likely to be useful to a person preparing an act of terrorism while he was based at barracks in central England in 2021.

He is also charged with obtaining information which might be "directly or indirectly useful to an enemy."

Separately, Khalife was accused of making a bomb hoax by placing three canisters with wires on a desk.

The fugitive former soldier was reported to have been working in the prison kitchen at the time of his escape.

"Strapping was found underneath [a delivery van] which appeared to indicate that Daniel Khalife may have held onto the underside of it in order to escape," Chalk said.

Prison under investigation

Chalk said there would be an immediate investigation into the prison's protocols, as well as the reason why Khalife wasn't held at a facility with higher security like Belmarsh Prison.

"No stone must be left unturned in getting to the bottom of what happened," Chalk said.

Preliminary findings are due by the end of the week. An additional independent investigation is also set to take place at a later date.

Charlie Taylor, whose job as chief inspect of prisons is to scrutinize detention facilities in England, said staff shortages were "the source of many problems".

"Something obviously went wrong in terms of security, and that will come out over time," he said.

This was also highlighted by the Prison Officers' Association, which blamed government cuts for a decline in the prison's services.

"Wandsworth is one of the largest prisons in the country and is overcrowded and under resourced," said Mark Fairhurst, chairman for the Prison Officers' Association.

zc/msh (Reuters, AFP, AP)