Gangster’s helicopter jailbreak
● Massive manhunt under way to catch ‘L’ecrvain’
French police have launched a manhunt after a notorious French gangster made a spectacular escape from prison in a helicopter.
Redoine Faid was serving a 25-year sentence at Reau Prison in the Paris region for the death of a young police officer killed during a botched robbery.
He escaped after a helicopter carrying several heavily armed commandos landed in a courtyard, freed him from a visiting room and carried him away on board
A notorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder has staged a daring escape from a prison south of Paris using a helicopter.
A huge manhunt has begun for Redoine Faid around the French capital after he broke out of Reau Prison.
This is the second time he had escaped from a French prison, after he used explosives to blast his way out of jail on a previous occasion before recapture.
France’s justice ministry said 46-year-old Faid’s escape only took “a few minutes” and noone was injured or taken hostage.
It said “an armed comman26-year-old do landed in a helicopter in the courtyard as the prisoner was in the visiting room” of the facility.
A union representative at Reau Prison, Martial Delabroye, told BFM television that “two men dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and police armbands” entered in the prison to look for Faid. They used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room, Delabroye, a representative of the guards’ union, told BFM television. The commandos used smoke canisters to hide from video cameras, and the helicopter touched down in the only part of the complex that was not covered by anti-helicopter netting, said another union member, Loic Delbroc.
When the helicopter arrived, Faid was meeting his brother in the visiting room. A third commando was holding the pilot at gunpoint, union members said.
French media reported that the three men took the pilot hostage at a flying club in the Paris region. He was later released with no physical injuries.
The helicopter was later found burned out in the town of Garges-les-gonesse, in the northern suburbs of Paris. Faid is believed to have left by car along with his accomplices.
French prosecutors have opened an investigation.
In 2013, Faid blasted his way out of prison with explosives concealed in tissue packs. He was arrested at a hotel six weeks later.
Faid was sentenced to 25 years in the 2010 death of a young policewoman killed during a botched robbery.
In the 1990s, Faid led a criminal gang involved in armed robbery of banks and armoured vans transporting money. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel, according to the French media.
Faid was freed in 2009 after serving ten years in prison. At the time he swore that he had turned his life around, writing a confessional book about his life of crime and going on an extensive media tour in 2010.
Still, he was the suspected mastermind of an attempted armed robbery in 2010 that led to a high-speed chase and a shootout with police in which policewoman Aurelie Fouquet was killed. He was arrested in 2011.
Faid was later convicted of the murder of the policewoman along with two accomplices.
One of Faid’s most recent prison supervisors said he was never in conflict with guards, but that “we must always be wary”.
“In the corner of his mind, he never lost the idea of escaping. Behind all his manners – he is very polite – he always hid his game,” the supervisor said.
Born in 1972, Faid grew up in a notoriously rough part of Paris. In the 1990s, he ran a gang involved in armed robbery and extortion in the French capital.
He has previously said his lifestyle was inspired by Hollywood gangster films, including the Al Pacino thriller Scarface. Faid is nicknamed “L’écrivain” – “the writer” – by French police.