Notorious thief pulls off jailbreak, flees French jail by helicopter
PARIS: A notorious career thief who was once France’s mostwanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak yesterday, fleeing a prison in the Paris area by helicopter, officials said.
Redoine Faid, 46, broke out of the prison in Reau in the city’s southeastern suburbs within minutes, helped by a number of heavily-armed men, sources close to the case said.
The escape came after an appeals court sentenced him to 25 years for masterminding a May 2010 botched armed robbery, in which a policewoman was killed.
Faid fled on Sunday with three accomplices, according to the sources. The helicopter was later found in a northeastern suburb of the French capital, they said, adding that a police search has been launched across the entire Paris region.
It is the second time Faid has pulled off a spectacular jailbreak – in 2013, he blasted his way out of a prison in northern France using dynamite.
He had been in prison since mid2011 for breaking the terms of his parole over past convictions for bank robberies and brazen heists of cash-in-transit vehicles.
Armed with a pistol, he briefly took four guards hostage before escaping in a waiting getaway car. All the hostages were released unharmed.
Faid was eventually recaptured six weeks later at a hotel in an industrial area on the outskirts of Paris.
He said his life of crime was inspired by American films such as “Scarface” and “Heat”. — AFP