French gangster flees prison after helicopter escape

PARIS: A French gangster is on the run after being broken out of prison by heavily armed gunmen and escaping in a helicopter that landed in the prison grounds, security sources said on Sunday.

Redoine Faid was serving a long-term sentence at a prison south of Paris for armed robbery and the murder of a policewoman in 2010 after a heist that went wrong. He is one of country´s most famous gangsters with a long career as a thief which he has said was inspired by Hollywood blockbuster movies such as “Scarface” and “Heat”. According to the sources, three armed gunmen arrived at the entrance of the prison demanding Faid´s release to create a diversion. Simultaneously, a helicopter landed in the prison courtyard, which was not covered by any nets.

Gunmen then took Faid from the visiting room where he was and fled in the helicopter, the sources said. Nobody was injured. The helicopter, whose pilot may have been taken hostage, was found burnt out north of Paris. “Everything is being done to locate the fugitive,” an official at the interior ministry said. Faid had already previously escaped from jail.