Manhunt underway after a murderer fled Paris prison by helicopter | News from the world

A manhunt was on Sunday in France after a famous convicted murderer used a helicopter to escape prison – only five years after bursting into another prison using explosives hidden in bundles of cloth. Reduced to 46, a well-known armed robber who was serving a 25-year sentence for the murder of a police officer during a failed raid, was detained in the solitary confinement unit. Reau prison south of Paris

Faïd was visiting. The Minister of Justice said that the "armed commando" had helped Faïd escape in "a few minutes" with the prison entrance door at around 11:15 am when a helicopter carrying at least two armed men landed on the ground. No one was injured or taken hostage inside the prison.

The men were dressed in black, wore police tapes on their arms and were carrying badault rifles, said a prison staff representative to AFP. a courtyard reserved for visitors that was not normally used for detainees and therefore had no anti-theft net.

Gunmen broke into the helicopter, dropped gas bombs and used a grinding machine to open the door.

The helicopter was found later burned just outside Paris. The pilot was waiting for a flying lesson earlier in the morning when he was held hostage under the threat of a gun and forced to drive the helicopter into the prison, reported France Info.

Faïd reportedly fled by car with his accomplices. A manhunt was launched while the police search the area and the prison is closed.

In 2013, Faid escaped from another prison with explosives concealed in cloth bags and a weapon concealed in the laundry. He blew up the gates of the prison and held several prison staff hostage. He was arrested in a hotel six weeks later.

In the 1990s, Faid led a criminal gang involved in the armed robbery of armored banks and vans carrying money. He was arrested in 1998 after three years of flight in Switzerland and Israel, according to the French media

Faïd was released in 2009 after serving 10 years in prison. He swore that he had changed his life, writing a confession book about his youth and delinquency, and embarking on a major media tour in 2010, telling how his criminal antics had been influenced by American films like Scarface and Heat [19659010]. He was arrested in 2011 and later sentenced to 25 years in prison for the murder of a 26-year-old policewoman, Aurélie Fouquet, during a failed flight in 2010.