A French inmate who fled police after armed assailants attacked a jail convoy in Might was apprehended in Romania, French officers stated Saturday. His seize ended a monthslong hunt for the person, whose violent escape resulted within the deaths of two jail guards.
French Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau confirmed in a statement on X that Mohamed Amra, the person who was whisked away by two gunmen in a brazen daytime assault, had been taken into custody with the cooperation of the Romanian authorities.
President Emmanuel Macron hailed his seize as “an incredible success,” and thanked investigators who had been monitoring Mr. Amra “for months and months.” He added: “I’m pondering of the households of the jail workers he had killed.”
The Paris prosecutor’s workplace stated the person arrested was “very possible” to be Mr. Amra and that investigators had been working to conduct the required verifications.
Violent jail breaks are uncommon in France. The 2 jail guards had been the primary to be killed within the line of obligation in 32 years, and the case raised uncomfortable questions on France’s overburdened jail system and whether or not authorities had totally grasped how harmful the inmate, a violent prison generally known as La Mouche, or The Fly, was.
He had been sentenced to 18 months in jail for housebreaking, one in all quite a few convictions for crimes together with extortion and assault. However he was additionally below investigation on extra critical expenses — in Marseille, in reference to a kidnapping and murder and in Rouen, in reference to an tried murder and extortion case.
French information retailers had reported that Mr. Amra had been concerned in worldwide drug trafficking and arranged crime, however Laure Beccuau, the highest Paris prosecutor, stated at a information convention in Might that Mr. Amra had no drug-related convictions.
Officers haven’t launched particulars in regards to the investigation into the opposite individuals concerned within the brutal ambush.
In the course of the Might assault, assailants rammed a police van carrying Mr. Amra after which hooded males with computerized weapons circled the van, firing bullets into the car for over two minutes.
The attackers fled in stolen automobiles that had been later discovered burned.
The assault, which got here as France was attempting to mission a picture of regulation and order forward of the Paris Olympics, was captured on video by safety cameras and bystanders, and movies had been later shared on X.
It occurred on the identical day {that a} Senate committee accomplished a report on rampant drug trafficking in France and beneficial the creation of a French equal to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
France has been confronted with an increase in drug violence and crime, not restricted to conventional scorching spots or large cities.
A 2024 Senate report discovered that “the intensification of trafficking within the rural areas and the moderate-sized cities” had include significantly brutal violence.
Aurelien Breeden contributed reporting.
