Gunmen free inmate in deadly attack on French prison van
www.france24.com
Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing at least two prison officers and freeing a convict who had been jailed last week.

Gunmen on Tuesday attacked a prison van at a motorway toll in northern France, killing at least two prison officers and freeing a convict who had been jailed last week.

President Emmanuel Macron vowed that everything would be done to find those behind the attack as hundreds of members of the security forces were deployed for a manhunt to find the attackers and the inmate who were all still at large.

Two prison officers were killed in the attack and two others are receiving urgent medical care, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said in a statement.

The incident took place late morning at a road toll in Incarville in the Eure region of northern France, a source close to the case added.

  • LovstuhagenOPMEnglish
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    5 months ago

    More information:

    #What we know about France’s ‘The Fly’ and his deadly prison van escape

    A massive manhunt was underway in France on Wednesday and an Interpol red notice was issued a day after a group of gunmen ambushed a prison van at a motorway toll and freed a notorious gangster known as “The Fly”. Two prison officers were killed in the spectacular escape and three more were wounded. Here’s what we know so far.

    …

    Frédéric Liakhoff, secretary of the prison officer union FO-Justice at the penitentiary centre in the city of Caen, told the AFP news agency that the prison guards accompanying Amra were armed with “simple Sig Sauer [handguns] while they faced weapons of war”.

    Amra had been escorted by five guards, the second-highest security level for transporting inmates in France and typically reserved for those implicated in terror or organised crime cases.

    According to top Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau, the security measures surrounding Amra had been revised and upgraded just “a few weeks ago”.

    Two prison officers were killed in the attack and three more were injured, one of whom is still fighting for his life.

    The two vehicles believed to have been used by the perpetrators were later found burned-out at other locations.

    …

    Amra, from the northern city of Rouen, has an impressive criminal track record and was jailed in January 2022 in Normandy’s Evreux prison to serve several sentences, including for criminal conspiracy, extortion, robbery, armed violence and participation in an illegal motor rodeo.

    His latest conviction, for burglary, was handed down only last week.

    “He is very well-known to the judiciary,” Beccuau told a press conference on Tuesday, noting Amra has 13 previous convictions to his name, none of which have been directly related to the narcotics business. His first conviction dates back to 2009, when he was just 15 years old.

    At the time of his escape, Amra was also facing two fresh charges, one for attempted murder and another for participation in a gangland killing in the southern city of Marseille, a hub for drug trafficking and gang violence.

    According to several French media, Amra has close links to organised crime and runs his own drug-trafficking network. Police sources with whom Reuters spoke described him as a mid-level player in France’s drug trade, with connections to Marseille’s powerful “Blacks” gang.

    …

    The free daily 20 Minutes also cited an unnamed police source as saying that while Amra’s position in the Marseille underworld would have allowed him to give orders “we did not think him capable of such a high-level operation”.

    The deadly attack has shocked France and prompted President Emmanuel Macron to vow an “uncompromising” response once the perpetrators have been caught.

    France 24