In a daring feat, three armed men broke Redoine Faid, 46, a convicted robbery kingpin in France, out of prison this morning. Like something out of an action movie, they landed a helicopter in the prison courtyard, holding the pilot hostage. They then took Faid away, who was in the visiting room talking to his brother. A manhunt was launched throughout the Ile-de-France region. Faid is no stranger to similar feats; he previously escaped from prison in 2013. At the time, however, he was in the Lille penitentiary, where he blew up five doors with explosives and took four guards hostage. He remained on the run for a month and a half, only to be captured in a small hotel room in a Parisian suburb. This time, there were no injuries or hostages, even though the Reau penitentiary, near Melun—also in a Paris suburb—is ultra-modern and fully functional. However, it has a weakness, which the prisoner's accomplices had long identified: the protective nets against helicopter landings—which cover roofs, terraces, and any other vulnerable surface—expose the main courtyard. And that's where the helicopter landed, using a James Bond-style trick, launching smoke bombs that obscured the cameras and using a milling machine to force its way into the visiting room—separated by metal grilles and doors. Armed with Kalashnikovs, two of the accomplices quickly entered the visiting room, where Faid was facing his brother Brahim, evacuated him, and quickly got him onto the helicopter. Waiting for them was the pilot, held at gunpoint by the third accomplice. The helicopter took off and was found partially burned on a provincial road in Gonesse, near Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport, a couple of hours later. The pilot-instructor, who was released, is being questioned by the police, who also arrested the escapee's brother, Brahim, that evening. According to reports, the group of four fugitives initially used a car, which was later found burned out a few kilometers away. They then switched vehicles, apparently choosing a delivery van. Checkpoints have been set up around Paris and in the suburbs where Faid was born and raised. Last April, the prisoner was sentenced on appeal to 25 years in prison for a bloody 2010 robbery on an armored van, which cost the life of a policewoman from Villiers-sur-Marne. During the trial, Redoine Faid was described as the organizer of a "real war operation." A few months later, in prison, Faid published a book in which he explained that—after years—he had finally escaped the criminal and robbery world.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to