A serving British Army soldier betrayed his country by passing secrets to the Iranians before escaping from HMP Wandsworth and triggering a nationwide manhunt, a court has been told.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, sparked a ‘short but intense’ search after he broke out of prison last September after being arrested on espionage charges, Woolwich Crown Court was told.
British-born Khalife, who has Iranian and Lebanese heritage, but grew up in Kingston, South West London, joined the army at the age of 16.
He went on to serve as a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals, the British Army’s communications arm, based at Beacon Barrack, Stafford.
But he began planning to share state secrets almost as soon as he joined the regiment, it was claimed today.
Daniel Abed Khalife, 21, sparked a ‘short but intense’ search after he broke out of prison last September after being arrested on espionage charges, Woolwich Crown Court was told
Khalife’s alleged escape – which he denies – sparked a nationwide manhunt lasting several days
Mark Heywood KC, prosecuting, told the jury that Khalife had been involved in ‘surreptitious gathering and communication with foreign agents, of sensitive and sometimes secret information, much of it information of a kind relevant to the work of the armed forces of this country, which might well be useful to her enemies.’
Over a period of more than two years he collected and made digital records of a large quantity of information while in the British Army, where he was ’employed to uphold and to protect the national security of this country,’ Mr Heywood said.
‘For purposes of his own’ he made contact with agents of Iran, ‘a country whose interests do not always align with, and sometimes threaten the interests of this country,’ the court was told.
On many occasions he passed information he had gathered to them, the prosecutor said.
When police caught up with him and an investigation began, he was released on bail but absconded from his barracks, ‘quite deliberately’ leaving a series of taped canisters behind in order to give the appearance of an explosive device and ’cause alarm.’
When he was later arrested and remanded in prison on a series of charges, he then escaped from prison and went on the run.
Khalife joined the army at 16 before going on to serve as a computer network engineer with the Royal Corps of Signals, the British Army’s communications arm
Khalife was caught ‘only after a relatively short but nevertheless intense nationwide search,’ Mr Heywood said.
In communicating with a foreign intelligence service Khalife intended to ‘further his own position’ in a way that ‘shows clearly that he was prepared in a fundamental, downright way to betray the trust of his fellow servicemen and women and to betray his sworn duty,’ Mr Heywood said.
He faces a charge under the Official Secrets Act that he committed ‘an act prejudicial to the safety or interests of the state’ between May 1 2019 and January 26 2022.
He allegedly ‘obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated to another person articles, notes, documents or information which were calculated to be or might be or were intended to be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy’.
Khalife also faces a charge under the terrorism act of eliciting information about members of the armed forces from the MOD joint personnel administration system on August 2 2021.
Along with the spying charges, Khalife faces charges of perpetrating a bomb hoax. He denies all the charges against him.
He is also accused of escaping from ‘lawful custody’ while on criminal charges, contrary to common law – which he denies but will offer no defence.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk