Federal authorities say an immigration detainee about to be deported to Senegal escaped custody at New York’s Kennedy Airport and fled in a taxi.

A spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement says Mohamadou Lamine Mbacke was in the custody of its agents at the airport Tuesday night when he bolted and got into a cab.

The agency says Mbacke entered the country lawfully in 2005 but violated the terms of his status.

Mbacke was ordered deported in September 2015. ICE spokesman Khaalid Walls says the 31-year-old Mbacke has criminal convictions for weapons offenses.

Walls says Mbacke had not been located Wednesday.

(AP)