Fugitive who used a helicopter to escape caught in France: NPR

One of the best-known French criminals, Redon Faid, was captured three months after his astonishing helicopter exit from a French prison.

The recidivist has fascinated the country, as reported by Eleanor Beardsley of NPR, and is known as the "king of the jailbreak". He talked about how his actions are inspired by Hollywood gangster movies like Scarface.

Faid was serving a 25-year prison sentence for an armed robbery that killed a female police officer. And, he had already escaped from another prison in 2013, this time using explosives.

Wednesday, Faïd was apprehended north of Paris, near the place where he grew up. As the Associated Press reported, Paris Attorney François Molins described at a press conference how officials had surprised him:

Molins said the gangster was sighted by the police on July 24 in the Paris area alongside his brother Rachid – but they managed to escape a high-speed car chase and abandoned their car in the parking lot. from a shopping center in Sarcelles and ran away.

"False explosives in the vehicle and false license plates were added to a growing battery of evidence leading to its capture.

"Molins said the weekend had been marked by a major turning point, when police realized that an accomplice from Creil had" taken in his car a person dressed in a burqa whose l? attitude suggested that it was actually a man "."

Early Wednesday, the police went to the building where Faid was staying. She was arrested along with several other people in the apartment.

"I've heard a din," Alliou Diallo, a neighbor, told Agence France-Presse. "I saw a hundred policemen wearing masks … I never thought that it could be there."

During Faid's escape in July, "two men posing as flight school students forced a helicopter instructor, under the threat of a revolver, to lead them to the prison, "reported Beardsley. "He landed on the only part of the prison not equipped with anti-helicopter nets." (This area has since been covered with nets, according to AFP).

French media have described the men helping Faid as highly trained and heavily armed. The helicopter was then discovered north of Paris, triggering a large manhunt.

It's unclear exactly where Faid has been all this time, though there have been a lot of rumors. As Reuters reports, "an unsubstantiated rumor suggests that he was reportedly fled to Israel".

In addition to serial flights, Faïd has another reason to be famous in France: he wrote an autobiography about his life of crime. This is why the French police call it "The Writer" – "the writer", as reported by the BBC.

His recent escape triggered "a heated debate in France on the security of the country's prisons," reported Beardsley.

On Wednesday, Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said that he would not go out this time. "We will place him in a high security facility where he will be closely monitored," she said.