Biodun.BBC: BREAKING: Redoine Faid: Paris helicopter prison break for gangster

Sunday, July 1, 2018

BREAKING: Redoine Faid: Paris helicopter prison break for gangster

A head and shoulders picture of Redoine Faid in a white shirt and suit — Image captionThis is the second prison break pulled off by Redoine Faid (pictured in 2010)

by Natalie de Vallieres and Biodun Iginla, BBC News, Paris

A notorious gangster has escaped by helicopter from a prison in the Paris region, the French authorities say.

Redoine Faid was helped by several heavily armed men who created a diversion at the prison entrance while the helicopter landed in the courtyard.

The helicopter flew to the nearby Gonesse area, where it was found by local police.

Faid, 46, has been serving a 25-year sentence for a failed robbery during which a police officer was killed.

This is his second prison break: in 2013, he escaped after seizing four guards as human shields and blowing several doors off with dynamite.

He staged that escape less than half an hour after arriving at a prison in northern France, and spent six weeks on the run.

Investigators transport an Alouette II helicopter allegedly abandoned by French prisoner Redoine Faid and his suspected accomplices after his escape — Image captionThe escape helicopter was found in Gonesse, north of Paris

In 2009 Faid wrote a book about his experiences of growing up in Paris's crime-ridden suburbs and graduating into a life of law-breaking.

He claimed to have turned his back on criminality, but a year later was involved in the failed robbery for which he was serving a sentence at the prison in Réau in the Seine-et-Marne region.

Faid and his accomplices escaped from the prison courtyard - which was not protected by a net - without injuring anyone.

Armed men took the prisoner from the visitors' room, where he was talking to his brother Brahim, before fleeing by air.

Map of key locations in the prison break

French outlet BFMTV reports that the men, hooded and dressed in black, burst into the prison at around 11:20 local time (09:20 GMT) on Sunday.

They had earlier taken a helicopter instructor hostage from a small flying club in Fontenay-Trésigny, where he was waiting for a student, and ordered him to go to the prison. Reports suggest the pilot has been released and was taken to hospital in shock.

This file photo taken on September 24, 2013 shows the entrance of the Sud-Francilien prison in Reau, outside Paris — Image captionFaid escaped from the Sud-Francilien prison outside Paris

Faid initially got out of the helicopter and into a black Renault Megane which was seen heading for the A1 motorway.

That car was later found burnt out at a shopping centre car park in Aulnay-sous-Bois, a suburb of Paris.

Early on Sunday afternoon, French media said Faid had switched getaway vehicles and was now in a white company van.

A forensic police officer crouches by a car abandoned by Redoine Faid at O'Parinor shopping mall car park — Image captionForensic police investigate the black car abandoned by Redoine Faid at a shopping centre car park

A police search is under way across the whole Paris region. "Everything is being done to locate the fugitive," an interior ministry official said.

Gangster inspired by Hollywood crime

Born in 1972, Faid grew up in a notoriously rough part of Paris.

In the 1990s, he ran a gang involved in armed robbery and extortion in the French capital. He has previously said his lifestyle was inspired by Hollywood gangster films, including the Al Pacino thriller Scarface.

He is said to be devoted to Robert De Niro movies and the stylised crime thrillers of US director Michael Mann.

He once approached Mann, who helmed the 1995 gangster film Heat, at a Paris film festival and told him: "You were my technical adviser."

Faid claimed to have watched the movie dozens of times to hone his skills as a bank robber.

French police have nicknamed the gangster "L'Écrivain" - "the writer" - in a nod to his autobiography and subsequent media tour.

A court sketch showing French armed robber Redoine Faid on 27 February 2018 during his trial at the Assise courthouse in Paris — Image captionFaid was involved in a botched armed robbery that resulted in a policewoman's death

One of Faid's most recent prison supervisors said he was never in conflict with guards, but that "we must always be wary".

"In the corner of his mind, he never lost the idea of escaping. Behind all his manners - he is very polite - he always hid his game," the supervisor said.

Timeline of a jailbreaker

Faid's cycle of imprisonment and escape began with his arrest in 1998 on multiple counts of armed robbery and bank theft.

In 2009 he was freed on parole, swearing that he was a changed man - but by 2011, he had breached his terms of release and was back behind bars.

In 2017, Faid was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for his 2013 jailbreak from Séquedin prison, outside Lille. He was also given 18 years for masterminding a 2010 robbery in which a young policewoman, Aurélie Fouquet, was killed.
Faid mounted a failed appeal, and in April 2018 was given a heavier sentence of 25 years for the botched robbery. He was serving that term at the time of his latest escape.