Human trafficking boss who helped Daniel Khalife evade justice after escaping from Wandsworth prison is jailed for more than four years

A human trafficker who helped former soldier Daniel Khalife after he escaped from prison on the underside of a food delivery truck has been jailed for four-and-a-half years.Adeel Khan, 32, helped his fellow inmate after he escaped HMP Wandsworth, south-west London, in 2023 by arranging to deliver £400 in cash.Khan had previous convictions for drug offences and was considered to be the 'leader' of a human trafficking network organising trips for migrants from eastern Europe to the north of France and onwards to Britain across the Channel.Khalife, a serving soldier, was awaiting trial charged with spying for Iran and staging a bomb hoax at his base when he escaped from prison in September 2023.He held on to the bottom of a delivery lorry, held up by a sling he made from prison trousers.Khan, who worked with the soldier in the prison kitchen, asked 26-year-old Imran Chowdhury to withdraw £400 for Khalife after his escape and arranged for him to be paid £120 for the job.A web developer for The Telegraph newspaper, Chowdhury travelled to Richmond in a brand-new BMW 118i and met Khalife at the Old Town Hall before the two walked together to George Street, where Chowdhury withdrew £400 using his Amex card at 10.39pm.He had seen the story of Khalife's escape on The Telegraph's website before he left the office at 5.37pm but said he did not recognise him when he handed over the cash five hours later because Khalife was wearing a cap and a face mask. Adeel Khan, a human trafficking boss, has been jailed for more than four years after being convicted of helping Iranian asset Daniel Khalife evade justice Khalife and Imran Chowdhury walked along the pavement in Richmond after going to a cash machineAfter being arrested in January 2024 when bodyworn footage played to the jury showed him swearing at officers, Chowdhury said he did not 'piece together the truth of the events' until his arrest and was acquitted by a jury.Following his escape, Khalife contacted Khan using phones he borrowed from members of the public, including the assistant manager of the Rose of York pub in Richmond, west London and a driver delivering an ice sculpture to Scott's seafood restaurant.Khan had an illicit phone in prison from which he took Khalife's 'desperate' calls.Tom Williams, prosecuting, told Snaresbrook Crown Court Khan had provided 'valuable assistance' which helped Khalife to buy clothes to disguise himself, buy a phone to contact his Iranian handlers and 'survive on the outside for much longer than he would otherwise have been able to'.Khan, known as 'Adzz', had previous convictions for possession of amphetamine and cannabis in September 2015, when he was aged 21, and possession of cocaine and cannabis in January 2018.He was in Wandsworth prison awaiting extradition to France after he was stopped by customs in the Poix-Terron commune in France as he arrived from Belgium in October 2018.A secret cache was found in the passenger airbag of his vehicle with an electric lock which contained two handguns in heat-sealed packages along with 75 rounds of 9mm ammunition.He was released on bail but three years later, in July 2021, Khan was stopped in the city of Arras in Northern France, driving a van towards the Channel with three boats, three engines and 200 life jackets.Khan was interviewed by French customs but released and the next day, the van was found abandoned in Berck-sur-Mer on the French coast.A French investigation then identified Khan as the 'leader of a human trafficking network' and he was arrested in January 2022, Mr Williams told the sentencing hearing. Khalife, pictured after his arrest on a canal towpath, escaped HMP Wandsworth on the underside of a lorry in 2023 while awaiting trialKhan was put on trial at Lille Judicial Court in June 2022 but remained on bail and did not attend the judgment, leaving the country and first travelling to Amsterdam and then on to Britain.He was convicted and sentenced in his absence to four years in jail and two years for human trafficking before being tracked down to Chingford, East London, where he was hiding in an outbuilding.While they worked together in the prison kitchen, Khalife wrote Khan's details in a red diary which he took with him when he escaped.Khalife's capture while cycling up a canal towpath in Northolt, west London, followed a three-day nationwide manhunt costing more than £250,000, the court was told.He was found to be carrying £200 in cash and a red 2023 diary in which he had written the prison number, mobile phone number and Snapchat handle for Khan, along with Khan's brother's number.Prosecutors suggested Khalife was heading back to Stone in Staffordshire, near his former barracks, where he had left a Ford Transit van, stolen from the base, and £18,000 in cash.Khan lost his fight against extradition and was sent to France in March 2024 and arrested on his return the following January.He was found guilty of assisting an offender and had previously pleaded guilty to possessing a mobile phone inside a prison. Escaped inmate Khalife used the phones of members of the public to get money from a fellow prisoner while he was on the runThe judge, Murray Shanks, said there was a 'major operation' to find Khalife and Khan had assisted him to evade capture.'I am quite sure you knew what he had been accused of and you didn't just receive that call out of the blue when he escaped,' the judge added.Khalife, 24, from Kingston, south-west London, was sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison in February last year.The morning after his escape, Khalife went into Marks and Spencer at the Kew Retail Park and spent £35.60 on T-shirts, jogging bottoms and socks and then went to Kings Mall shopping centre in Hammersmith to buy a phone.That evening, he attempted to contact Khan five more times before he answered at 7.30pm and the pair spoke for 17 minutes and 35 seconds.On the morning of September 8, Khalife was seen on CCTV buying a 3G mobile phone voucher and a copy of the Daily Mail in a newsagents in Chiswick with a story about his escape.At 4.47pm that afternoon, he tried to contact his Iranian handlers, sending a message that read 'I wait' but received no reply.Beginning at 5.24pm, Khalife made 12 further attempts over three hours to contact Khan on his iPhone in prison, leaving several voicemails which were not recovered.Early the next morning, he stole a cycle and tried to escape up the Grand Union canal towpath but he was spotted by a member of the public and intercepted by undercover officers in Northolt.Khan was convicted after trial in July this year and was sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday.Sentencing, Judge Murray Shanks said: 'You were remanded there awaiting extradition to France in relation to two very serious offences, or series of offences, for which you had already been sentenced in your absence.'He [Khalife] was being held awaiting trial for a number of very serious offences under the Official Secrets Act and the Terrorism Act. Helen Flanagan, head of counter terror policing London'In particular, he was working, it seems, with the Iranian secret service and giving details about members of the armed forces.'Commander Helen Flanagan, head of counter terrorism policing London, said: 'A huge amount of police resource was dedicated to the manhunt for Daniel Khalife, a man who has since been convicted of espionage and terrorism offences.'Adeel Khan knowingly assisted Khalife's attempts to evade capture by arranging for him to receive £400 in cash, enabling him to purchase a mobile phone and other items that helped him remain on the run.'Today's outcome reflects the seriousness of that support and demonstrates that anyone who assists a wanted criminal can expect to face justice themselves.'Khalife was sentenced to 14 years and three months in prison after being convicted of breaching the Official Secrets and Terrorism Acts at a trial in 2024.