Julian Assange, 47, has been arrested after almost seven years at the Ecuadorian embassy in London. Ecuador President Lenin Moreno confirmed he had allowed the Metropolitan Police access into the embassy, blasting Mr Assange for his “aggresive” and “hostile” behaviour. Mr Assange was seen sporting a long white beard as he was carried out by a group of men and hauled into a police van.

Scotland Yard issued a statement today, which read: “He has been taken into custody at a central London police station where he will remain, before being presented before Westminster Magistrates’ Court as soon as is possible.

“The MPS (Metropolitan Police Service) had a duty to execute the warrant, on behalf of Westminster Magistrates’ Court, and was invited into the embassy by the Ambassador, following the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.”

Mr Assange was seeking refuge at the London-based embassy to avoid extradition to Sweden.

Sweden dropped the case in 2017 but the WikiLeaks founded remained in embassy as he feared being extradited to the US to face charges over the WikiLeaks’s release of sensitive US government files.

Ecuador’s president Lenin Moreno said on Twitter: “In a sovereign decision Ecuador withdrew the asylum status to Julian Assange after his repeated violations to international conventions and daily-life protocols.”

But WikiLeaks said Mr Moreno had acted illegally in terminating Assange’s political asylum “in violation of international law”.

His arrest comes a day after Wikileaks accused the Ecuadorean Government of an “extensive spying operation” against Assange.

The company claims meetings with lawyers and a doctor inside the embassy over the past year were secretly filmed.

Following Mr Assange’s arrest, Europe minister Sir Alan Duncan said: “It is absolutely right that Assange will face justice in the proper way in the UK. It is for the courts to decide what happens next.”

WikiLeaks Top 10

1. Iraq Apache helicopter attack

2. Guantanamo Bay operating procedures

3. Secret Bibles of Scientology

4. Climate change fudge

5. Australian internet blacklist

6. Trafigura’s Minton Report

7. BNP members outed

8. Sarah Palin’s emails hacked

9. Twin Towers pager data

10. ‘How to stop leaks’ document

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