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British Police said Saturday they were scouring hours of closed-circuit TV recordings to find an asylum-seeker convicted of sexual assault who was mistakenly released from prison.
Haddush Gerberslasi Kebatu, a 38-year-old Ethiopian national, was “last seen.” London Area,” essex police On Saturday, officers from three different forces were working together in the investigation.
Kebatu came to national attention after a wave of anti-immigrant protests broke out in London and other cities in recent months.
He was sentenced in September to 12 months in prison for five crimes, including the sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in July. EppingOn the outskirts of London, just a week after arriving in England by boat.
Authorities said they were alerted on Friday afternoon that Kebatu had been mistakenly released into a prison in Chelmsford, Essex, and had been seen catching a train there. British media reported that he was incorrectly classified as a prisoner after being released instead of being sent to an immigration detention centre.
“Officers worked throughout the night to track his movements, including scanning hours of CCTV footage, and this work continues today,” a police statement said.
“It is beyond us that this situation is worrying people and we are committed to locating and arresting him as quickly as possible,” it added.
prison service An investigation was launched, and a prison officer has been removed from the discharge of duties.
Kebatu’s arrest and prosecution prompted thousands of people to protest outside the Bell Hotel in Epping, north-east of London, where he was staying with other newly arrived migrants. A number of protests took place in other British cities and towns targeting other hotels housing migrants, with some demonstrations attended by far-right activists and disorder.
The group Stand Up to Racism also rallied in protest.
There have long been tensions over unauthorized migration – particularly the thousands of migrants crossing the English Channel in overloaded boats to reach Britain, as well as the Labor government’s policy of using hotels to house migrants who are awaiting decisions on their asylum status.
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Follow AP’s global migration coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/migration.