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Redeemed Faid, photographed here in 2010, has made himself known by writing a book
The most wanted French fugitive, Redoine Faid, was found by wiretapping and discovered with the help of a burqa, revealed a prosecutor.
Faid, 46, was arrested Wednesday in the city where he grew up north of Paris. Six others are detained.
He left prison on July 1, escaping in a helicopter piloted by a flight instructor hijacked.
After three months of racing, Faïd was found in a building.
He was released from prison in Réau, south-east of Paris, by three heavily armed men. He was serving a 25-year prison sentence for organizing a robbery in which a policewoman was murdered in 2010.
It was resumed shortly after 4:00 Wednesday in the city of Creil. Three other people in the apartment were arrested and three others arrested elsewhere.
How was the gangster caught?
French prosecutor François Molins revealed that the police were monitoring cell phones used by the gang that had participated in the jailbreak and had found a young woman in Creil, where Faid had grown up.
Last weekend, the woman "left in her car a person dressed in a burqa whose silhouette suggested that it could be a man's action".
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Tuesday night, late at night, this person got out of the car and entered the apartment of the young woman, followed soon after by another person also in a burqa. Police immediately suspected that the couple in the burqa were Redon Faid and his brother Rachid.
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AFP
Rédoine Faïd was found in this building in Creil, not far from where he grew up
On Wednesday at 4:20 am (0220 GMT), dozens of French police stormed the apartment and arrested the two brothers and two other people, including a nephew and the apartment owner, aged 28 years old. Another nephew and two other suspects were arrested elsewhere.
Images of the fugitive sitting on a bed, surrounded by police and wearing what appears to be a nightgown, have appeared. Uzi submachine gun lay on the ground.
Who is Redon Faid?
Notorious criminal who grew up in the towers near Paris in the 1970s and 80s, Faïd has become a celebrity in France in recent years, despite the violence of his crimes.
In the 1990s, he led a band involved in armed robbery and extortion. Hollywood films, such as the Al Pacino thriller, Scarface, had inspired his lifestyle and some of his projects.
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AFP
Faid has been placed on the list of the most wanted by Interpol after his escape from 2013
During an attack on a safety van in 1997, he and his accomplices wore an ice hockey guard mask, mimicking Robert de Niro's gang in the movie Heat.
He then stated that he had watched this film "hundreds of times" on DVD and once told his director, Michael Mann, at a film festival in Paris: "You were my advisor technical".
A 2009 book describing his youth in the streets of Paris and his descent into the life of a professional criminal contributed to his fame.
This earned him the nickname "The Writer" – or "the writer" – among the French police.
After the failed raid on a security van carrying money in 2010 in which a policewoman died, he was back in jail but escaped in 2013 by seizing four prison guards and blowing up prison doors with dynamite. This time he spent six weeks on the run.
Chronology of a jailbreaker
- Faid's imprisonment and escape cycle began with his arrest in 1998 for armed robbery and bank robbery.
- In 2009, he was conditionally released, swearing that he was a changed man – but in 2011, he had violated his release conditions and was back behind bars.
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In 2013, he escaped from a prison near Lille, using explosives to fight his way through five prison gates while holding guards hostage in the form of human shields.
- In 2017, Faïd was sentenced to 10 years in prison for this jailbreak. He also received 18 years for organizing the 2010 flight.
- In 2018, following an unsuccessful appeal, Faïd was sentenced to a heavier 25-year sentence
France promises better security
For the French authorities, Faid's jailbreaks proved embarrassing and the Minister of Justice, Nicole Belloubet, promised on Wednesday that it would not happen again. "We will place him in a high security facility where he will be closely monitored," she promised.
The news of his capture coincided with a tragedy at the heart of French politics involving the Interior Minister, Gérard Collomb, the country's top law enforcement official, who had announced his decision to to resign Tuesday night.
This decision is considered a new setback for President Emmanuel Macron, whose popularity has fallen sharply in recent weeks. Mr. Collomb had been one of Macron's earliest supporters and closest allies. The president initially rejected his decision to withdraw.
The Minister of the Interior will be temporarily led by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe, and Mr Collomb will campaign for the return to his post of mayor of Lyon.
Mr. Collomb is the third minister to resign in two months.
