Notorious robber flees Paris jail by helicopter

PARIS: A notorious career thief who was once France’s most-wanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak yesterday, fleeing by helicopter. Redoine Faid, 46, broke out of a prison in Reau here within minutes, helped by heavily-armed men. 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. 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.