A convicted money launderer has managed to flee the UK after being given a new passport - despite being on bail for a second alleged crime.
Maythem Al Ansari, who had just completed a three-year sentence for money laundering for drug dealers, was facing another prison term after being arrested by detectives investigating a multi-million-pound mortgage fraud.
The Iraqi refugee's passport was being held by the Metropolitan Police to prevent him leaving the UK while on bail.
But Al Ansari, who acted as a banker for a £100m cocaine ring, simply applied for another passport and was granted one in a "disastrous" blunder.
He flew to Syria where he sent a letter from a doctor in Damascus claiming that he was too ill to return, and is now believed to be in Iraq, according to the London Evening Standard.
Al Ansari was arrested after being woken by 50 officers who used a JCB digger to demolish a 6ft wall and steel gates surrounding his £3m home in Uxbridge, west London.
Al Ansari, 44, had built up a £40m property portfolio including flats in Mayfair and hotels in India.
After his arrest, the Met seized his passport - but there is no record as to whether officers informed the Identity & Passport Service IPS).
The IPS said it was never informed his passport had been seized, while the Met and the courts service said they had no specific policy or requirement to inform the IPS of any passport seizures.
Keith Vaz, the chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said: "This appears to be a serious error with disastrous consequences.
"There has clearly been a breakdown in communication."
Keith Bristow, the new head of the National Crime Agency, will be questioned by MPs next week over how he will prevent such blunders happening in the future, Mr Vaz added.
