A man who was caught up in a case of mistaken identity when police thought he was escaped prisoner Daniel Khalife has commented on the ordeal.
Officers from Thames Valley Police questioned a man at Banbury Train Station this afternoon (Thursday, September 7) after a supposed sighting of Khalife who is the subject of a national manhunt since his escape on Wednesday.
The incident was stood down when officers realised the man was not Khalife.
READ MORE: The Oxford drug dealer who escaped from prison disguised as cellmate
A viral video, viewed over two million times, shows officers speaking to the man, who appears to look similar to the escaped 21-year-old.
Posting on X, the site formerly known as Twitter, the unfortunate lookalike has now given his side of the story.
Hi everyone, just made this acc to explain what happened today. A woman mistook me for Daniel Khalife, and alerted the police. After about 20 mins of questions (and some gd banter) i proved I wasn't the escapee after a finger print scan. Honeslty crazy how much this has blown up
— h0rtio.c (@h0rtio_c) September 7, 2023
The social media user, who has the username @h0rtio_c, said: “A woman mistook me for Daniel Khalife, and alerted the police.
“After about 20 mins of questions (and some gd banter) i proved I wasn't the escapee after a finger print scan.”
He added: “Honestly they (officers) were all decent and apologised afterwards. I cant blame em for being alert after what daniels done.”
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Met's Counter Terrorism Command, says there have been no confirmed sightings of Khalife in the near 36 hours since he escaped from HMP Wandsworth in south London on the underside of a van.
The former soldier is charged with terror offences, including "collecting information which might be useful to an enemy.”
Police believe Khalife poses a "low risk" to the public but people are being urged not to approach him and to call 999 instead.
A spokesman for Thames Valley Police said on Friday: “Officers were called to Banbury station yesterday in connection with the search for Daniel Khalife.
"A man was stopped by officers and checks were conducted. It was established that the man stopped was not Daniel Khalife.
"He was allowed to go on his way. We would like to thank him for his patience while we carried out these checks.”
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