A notorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder made an audacious escape from prison yesterday after several heavily armed men landed a helicopter in a courtyard, freed him from a visiting room and carried him away.
It was the second daring escape by Redoine Faid, who once blasted his way out of a different prison with explosives hidden in tissue packs.
His latest escape, from Reau Prison, took only "a few minutes," France's Justice Ministry said. Unarmed guards said they could do nothing to prevent it.
Dressed all in black, two men wearing balaclavas and police armbands got off the chopper and entered the prison to look for Faid. They used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room, Martial Delabroye, a representative of the guards' union, told BFM television.