Outlandish plot to smuggle Assange out of embassy wearing fancy dress
FUGITIVE Wikileaks founder Julian Assange was poised to slip past British police in fancy dress as part of desperate plans by the Ecuador government to smuggle him out of their London embassy, it emerged yesterday.
Other schemes to remove him from the embassy – where he has claimed asylum for three years to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault and rape charges – included a dash across the rooftops of Knightsbridge to a nearby helipad or disappearing among tourists visiting Harrods, according to leaked documents.
None of the escape plans were attempted, with diplomats concerned at the scale of police surveillance, and they also con- cluded it would be impossible to smuggle out Assange in a diplomatic package because of ‘advanced technology that can detect body heat’.
But they state: ‘Assange could leave in fancy dress or try to escape across rooftops towards a nearby helipad, or get lost among the people in Harrods.’
UK officials have repeatedly attacked the cost of surveillance on Assange, with the bill standing at £11.9m at the end of June.
The details of Assange’s time in the embassy are contained within leaked documents dating back to 2012. They note his ‘evident anger’ and a need to ‘control [his] access to alcohol’, but also reveal that his antics could cause discomfort to ‘personnel, mainly women’.
The 44-year- old Australian is said to be plagued with night terrors and has a tendency to ‘shout and talk incoherently’ into the small hours.
Swedish prosecutors dropped sexual assault claims against him last month as a time limit expired, but he is still wanted on a rape accusation made after his visit to the country five years ago. Assange denies the allegations.
Swedish officials yesterday said they are close to an agreement with Ecuador which could see Assange questioned in London before the end of the year.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ‘Our objective is to arrest Julian Assange for breach of bail.’