Muslim extremists plot escape from prison
A high-security prison has been put on alert after intelligence reports that a group of Muslim extremists were plotting to escape.
The gym at HMP Wakefield, West Yorkshire, has been turned into a makeshift mosque so prison staff can keep a better eye on inmates after the chapel, usually used for group prayer, was deemed too 'high-risk'.
The room is now double-locked and patrolled by 12 officers with dogs while up to 70 Muslim inmates, including al-Qaeda operative Kamel Bourgass, gather for two-hour prayer meetings.
Extra security precautions were first taken two weeks ago, after the prison governor was informed of an escape bid similar to one foiled at HMP Full Sutton, East Yorkshire, last month.
Nine inmates – including convicted terrorists – planned to escape by helicopter. Accomplices on the outside were to hire it for "business" then force the pilot to land in prison at gunpoint.
"The Governor is not taking any chances", a source at HMP Wakefield told the Daily Mirror.
"Inmates usually pray alone in cells but are allowed to come together for religious services once a week. Muslims meet an Imam and read the Koran as in the ordinary chapel, but the gym is bigger and more secure. "All eyes are on them during prayer time, more so now than ever."
Bourgass, 33, an Algerian, is serving a life sentence for murdering a policeman, Det Con Stephen Oake, during a raid at a house in Manchester. He also stabbed three other officers during the incident in 2003.
He was also convicted of plotting a poison attack in Britain. Detectives believe he planned to smear ricin on door and car handles around the Holloway Road area of London.
Bourgass is still described in prison reports as a "risk to life and state".
"He has extreme beliefs, re: links to a terror cell in London and possession of explosives", the report continues.
HMP Wakefield holds some of the most dangerous prisoners in the penal system, with about two-thirds of the 740 male inmates serious sex offenders.
A Prison Service spokesman said: "Security procedures in prisons are dynamic and intelligence-led.
"Every establishment is made aware of potential threats to security and action is taken as necessary."
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