A gangster who was jailed in France broke the prison and escaped in a helicopter with the help of three heavily-armed accomplices. They helped Redoine Faid from the Seine-et-Marne prison, near Paris on Sunday morning. Reportedly, the 46-year-old was taken from the visiting room to the chopper, an Alouette II which had landed in the prison’s courtyard.
They landed in Gonesse, a northeastern suburb of the French capital, before escaping in a car. The aircraft was found partially burned in Gonesse, close to Paris Charle de Gaulle Airport. Forensic police officers are investigating the site where the helicopter was found. Authorities later found a burnt out black Renault which is suspected to be the getaway car in Aulnay-sous-Boid, another suburb of Paris.
Jean-François Forget, secretary general of the country’s Penitentiary Union told Independent that the detainee “was in an isolation ward, but had no special surveillance measures”. He added the helicopter was registered in Belgium.
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In the 1990s, he was part of a gang that was involved in robbery and extortion in Paris. He was sentenced to 30 years jail for the crimes in 1998. After more than a decade, he convinced parole officers that he had changed and was released in 2009 under certain conditions.
He gained fame with some appearances in television shows and through books he authored. He wrote about his past, detailing his rise as a criminal in Paris. Raised in tough suburbs of Paris, Faid said he took inspiration from American gangster movies.
Earlier this year in April, the criminal was sentenced to 25 years in jail for a failed armed robbery in 2010 that killed a policewoman. He was arrested on a European warrant after being found hiding in a B&B. In TV shows, Faid presented himself as the reformed symbol of a new generation of French organised crime.
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