WikiLeaks' Julian Assange is to be arrested "under any circumstances" if he leaves the Ecuadorian embassy, according to a secret police document photographed by a photographer for Britain’s Press Association news agency.

A police officer holds notes on Julian Assange’s exile at the Ecuadorean embassy in London. (Lewis Whyld/PA) “Assange to be arrested under all circumstances,” the hand-written note says.

Lewis Whyld shot the photos of the documents on a clipboard carried by a police standing outside the embassy, half-covered by the officer's arm.

Diplomatic cars and bags are also sanctuaries for foreign nations, as are embassies, but the police document refers to "dip bag, as dip bag, in dip vehicle" as places they would arrest Assange.

The document appears to read:

"Brief - EQ. Embassy Brief Summery of current position Re: Assange. Action required Assange to be arrested under all circumstances. He comes out with dip [presumably a diplomat] ... as dip bag [which allows immunity from search for diplomatic communications, and which could be as large as a suitcase, crate or even a shipping container], in dip car .... in dip vehicle. ARRESTED.

"Discuss possibilities of distraction SS10 to liaise...provide additional support."

Scotland Yard said the document was the officer's own handwritten notes from a briefing.

The UK government has made it clear Assange will be arrested if he steps outside of the embassy.

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