Julian Assange's secret escape plan made public

LONDON: Ecuadorian officials considered to smuggle out Julian Assange from their London embassy in a diplomatic bag, wearing a fancy dress disguise, in one the many bizarre plots drawn up to evade arrest of the WikiLeaks founder hiding inside the building for over three years now.

Other options for sneaking the WikiLeaks founder out of the embassy in Knightsbridge included scrambling across a rooftop to a helipad, making a dash for a diplomat's car and getting lost among the people in Harrods, just yards away, The Times reported.

According to leaked documents, Ecuadorean plans to smuggle out Assange - who continues to hide in the embassy since 2012 after he exhausted all legal avenues to fight his extradition to Sweden to face sexual assault charges - in fancy dress and hide him in a diplomatic bag.

Escaping in a diplomatic bag -- immune from search and confiscation only if it contains documents relating to embassy business -- would have been a serious breach of diplomatic law.

According to the newspaper, the atmosphere surrounding the man described in the leaked documents as "Mr Guest" has grown increasingly fractious as more details of his increasing isolation emerged this week.

Assange, 44, sleeps in a converted ladies' lavatory at the back of a ground-floor flat and has an office with a treadmill for exercise and a sun lamp for vitamin D.

His escape options have been thwarted by the constant Scotland Yard presence outside the building.

The cost of the operation has been estimated at more than 12 million pounds.

The security report, apparently leaked by former security staff at the embassy and seen by the website Buzzfeed, gives a minute-by-minute account of Assange's activity.

One entry accuses Assange of punching a guard after being caught using equipment in a room from which he was barred.

Sweden started talks with Ecuador this week to address the stalemate over Assange.

Two women had made allegations against Assange five years ago in Stockholm, but no charges were brought because the prosecutor has been unable to interrogate him.

Under Swedish law, charges cannot be laid without interviewing the suspect.

Assange says he had no choice but to seek asylum as Sweden declined to guarantee that he would not be extradited to the US to face espionage charges related to WikiLeaks if he travelled to Stockholm.

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard said: "Our objective is to arrest Julian Assange for breach of bail."