Serial bag thief is hunted again after being deported twice

A PROLIFIC bag thief who has been deported twice is being hunted by police in London after slipping back into the country.

Hakim Benmakhlouf, who has a string of convictions for stealing from tourists at five-star hotels and airports, was first deported in July 2007.

He had been serving a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for theft but was given £3,000 by the Government to be released early and fly home to his native Algeria.

A day later the 27-year-old returned and was back snatching bags until he was re-arrested in April last year.

He was jailed for three years but was released early last month, after serving a third of his sentence, to be deported again. He got back into the country days later.

Police had no idea Benmakhlouf had been freed early until he was spotted by officers in London two weeks ago. A search for him is now under way, focusing on the St John's Wood area.

A Home Office source said: "This is a major, major embarrassment. This man has made a mockery of our border controls and the criminal justice system."

A former rent boy, Benmakhlouf, who uses 12 aliases, initially began stealing from his clients to fund a cocaine habit. He then went on to commit a string of other offences.