According to the latest
news, Rédoine Faïd, a French gangster who broke out of jail using a hijacked
helicopter in July, has been recaptured, police sources say.
The country's most wanted
fugitive, he was detained north of Paris, reportedly with his brother and two
men.
Faïd, 46, is a fan of
gangster films, which he credits with teaching him how to pull off raids.
He was first arrested in
1998 for armed robbery. The 1 July jailbreak was his second and most dramatic
escape.
Faid, a career criminal
with multiple convictions for armed robbery who had escaped from prison once
before, was sprung from the jail in Reau, 50 kilometres (30 miles) southeast of
Paris.
Around 100 police were deployed to track down the
46-year-old, who has cited movie baddies such as Tony Montana in “Scarface” as
an inspiration and said he discovered his “calling” at the age of 12.
Weapons were seized in the
raid which unfolded calmly in the town of Creil in the early hours of
Wednesday, according to the source.
Outgoing Interior Minister
Gerard Collomb praised the local police force in a tweet for their “commitment,
bravery and determination”.
Faid, who previously
escaped from prison in 2013 before being captured six weeks later, had been
serving a 25-year term over a botched 2010 heist in which a policewoman was
killed, though he claims her death was accidental.
The spectacular jailbreak
saw two men posing as flight-school students, who had already taken an
introductory flight, force a helicopter instructor at gunpoint to fly them to
the jail.
The terrified pilot landed
in the courtyard — the only part of the prison not fitted with anti-helicopter
nets.
A pair of black-clad men
armed with assault rifles then alighted and set off smoke bombs before breaking
into the visiting room, where Faid was meeting with his brother who was later
taken into custody.
The wardens, who were
unarmed, fled and raised the alarm. But within 10 minutes Faid was gone,
cheered on by his fellow inmates.
The helicopter was found
shortly afterwards in a suburb northeast of Paris, along with the pilot, who
had been beaten and was taken to hospital in a state of shock.
Several days after his
escape investigators found a stash of guns, masks and a cement cutter in the
Oise region where Faid grew up, which they believed belonged to his gang.
Faid narrowly avoided
capture on July 24 and had to abandon a car containing explosives after he was
identified as one of two people who sped away when police tried to carry out a
security check on their car north of Paris.
In early September police
carried out searches targeting the robber’s relatives, but made no arrests.
The escape, which brings to
at least five the number of jailbreaks in France in the past three decades
involving helicopters, prompted a heated debate about whether the country’s
prisons are secure enough.
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