British Police arrest WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador embassy

British police on Thursday arrested WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at Ecuador’s embassy in London after his asylum was withdrawn.

The Metropolitan Police said Assange was taken into custody on a 2012 warrant for failing to surrender to court.

“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,” police said in a statement.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange arrives at the Supreme Court in London in February 2012.

NEWSVERGE reports that Assange, 47, took refuge in the embassy in 2012 to avoid extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape allegations.

Police said the Ecuadorian ambassador invited officers to the embassy to execute a warrant on behalf of the Westminster Magistrates’ Court after the Ecuadorian government’s withdrawal of asylum.

The United Kingdom’s Minister of State for Europe and the Americas, Sir Alan Duncan, applauded the arrest, saying it followed “extensive dialogue” between the two countries.

“It is absolutely right that Assange will face justice in the proper way in the U.K.,” he said in a statement. “It is for the courts to decide what happens next.”