The Briton suspected of a plane bombing plot who escaped from custody got away after police let his uncle drive him back to jail following a court appearance, a security official said on Monday.
Rashid Rauf, a British national of Pakistani origin wanted for an alleged plan to blow up Trans-Atlantic jetliners, slipped away in unclear circumstances on Saturday after appearing in an Islamabad court.
The latest details of his escape will likely come as further embarrassment for the Pakistani government, which was considering a British request for Rauf's extradition in an unrelated 2002 murder case. The senior security official, who declined to be named, said Rauf's uncle Muhammad Rafiq had convinced the two police escorts to make the drive back to jail in Rafiq's more comfortable van - instead of in a police vehicle.
The official said that on the way to jail in the neighbouring city of Rawalpindi Rauf asked for permission to stop at a fast-food restaurant - where the uncle bought a meal for all of them. Then Rauf asked to visit a mosque for prayers, which was also allowed. While the prayer service was going on Rauf and his uncle disappeared.
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