Shocking footage shows the moment masked gunmen surround a prison van as two guards are killed and a 'highly dangerous' criminal escapes.
The attack on the prison vehicle by four men took place this morning as the convoy was returning to Evreux jail following a court hearing in Rouen. Two prison staff were killed and three 'seriously injured', France's justice minister confirmed. Mohammed Amra, 30, a 'highly dangerous' drugs gang boss, remains on the run after getting out of the prison van into one of the assailant's cars.
Now, new video footage taken from the back of a bus shows men armed with machine guns stalking the motorway - shortly before a blazing vehicle is seen smashed into the prison service van.
A flaming car can be seen smashed into the prison van (Twitter)The escaped prisoner is understood to be a 30-year-old career criminal nicknamed ‘The Fly’. His latest conviction was for burglary, and he also has a past conviction for attempted murder. A police source told Le Parisien that he was ‘the head of a narcotics network’ in France and accordingly considered hugely dangerous. At the time of the attack, he was being transferred from one detention centre to another, on a route that should have been secret. Amra tried to saw the bars of his cell just two days prior and was moved to a different unit of the prison, a source told Le Parisien.
French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said he would join a crisis unit to address the emergency. "All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised," he posted on X. He expressed condolences to the victims' families and agents of the Ministry of Justice.
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Military police officers (gendarmerie) in the region activated the Épervier plan, which placed all levels of security and high alert and deployed armed police to cover and search the entire department of Eure. Around 200 members of the military police force are confirmed to have descended on the area.
One of the masked gunman approaching the prison van (Twitter)
Mohammed Amra, 30, has been named as the prisioner who escapedEmmanuel Macron, the president of France, tweeted this afternoon: "This morning's attack, which cost the lives of prison officers, is a shock to us all. The Nation stands alongside the families, the injured and their colleagues. Everything is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French people. We will be intractable."
A 'dangerous' criminal nicknamed 'The Fly' escaped the prison van after the attack (Twitter)French media reported that the prisoner being transported in the van had escaped with the assailants. The incident prompted a significant law enforcement operation in the northeastern region of France as authorities worked to secure the area and apprehend the criminals. French media reported the attack occurred late on Tuesday morning on the A154 motorway, which has since been closed.
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