Two guards have been shot dead and a "highly dangerous" inmate - nicknamed "The Fly" - is now on the run after a prison van was attacked this morning.
Four armed men ambushed the prison convoy which was transferring detainees, at a toll booth near Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, around 11am. The masked attackers with machine guns blocked the truck as it took the detainee to Rouen, where the inmate was due to be presented to a judge. Footage shared widely online from inside a bus shows a black van on fire after it ploughed into the prison van. Masked gunmen can be seen aiming their weapons at the van in front of terrified onlookers.
At least one inmate is on the run with the armed criminals in two vehicles. One of the suspects on the run is Mohammed Amra, 30, a gang boss known to the courts for attempted homicide. France's justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti confirmed two guards had died and three people left in "life threatening" conditions.
The two men killed were identified as agents from the Regional Centre for Judicial Extractions (PREJ), based in Caen, northwest France. One was a 21-year-old father of two who leaves a widow, and the other an expectant dad whose wife was five months pregnant.
Amra, who had a total of 13 convictions to his name, was under "special surveillance", but not considered radicalised or a terrorist suspect, said Mr Dupond-Moretti. The escaped prisoner, a 30-year-old career criminal, is 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 Évreux prison to court for a commital hearing which would have been made public.
Amra "gets everywhere," according to a source close to him. They said he was "nicknamed the fly, because he's everywhere, like an annoying fly... He’s now with his gang members, and is considered to be extremely dangerous, and armed with some very sophisticated weapons."
Prosecutors working for the National Jurisdiction for the Fight against Organised Crime (JUNALCO) have opened an enquiry into "murder and attempted murder by an organised gang" – offences punishable with a life sentence.
They are also investigating "escape in an organised gang", "acquisition and possession of weapons of war" and "criminal association with a view to the commission of a crime," said Mr Dupond-Moretti.
Laure Beccuau, the Paris public prosecutor, confirmed that Amera had previously been indicted by the Specialised Inter-regional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Marseille for "kidnapping and sequestration leading to death". Amra was also indicted for "attempted homicide" in Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, near Rouen. Earlier this year, he was being held at the Baumettes prison in Marseille, before being transferred to La Santé in Paris, and then Évreux.
He was last week sentenced to 18 months for a series of aggravated thefts, having used a gun to rob supermarkets and other businesses in Évreux suburbs in the summer of 2019. He was also being detained over the execution of a man in Marseille on June 17, 2022.
Amra had attempted to saw through the bars of his cell in a failed escape attempt just two days before he was sprung free from the van, according to La Parisien. The unsuccessful bid for freedom saw him moved to a disciplinary unit and put him under a higher surveillance level - making his status as a fugitive today all the more shocking. 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.
One of the cars used for the escape, a white Audi A5, has since been found burnt in the town of Watteville. The second, a BMW 5 series, was seen heading in the direction of Louviers and Evreux.
French Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, wrote on the X social media platform: "Two of our prison officers have died, three are seriously injured. All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues." He added that he would "immediately" go to the ministry's crisis unit. Minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin, who heads a department equivalent to the UK's Home Office, said: "Sincere and saddened condolences to the bereaved families and agents of the Ministry of Justice. The “Epervier” plan was triggered. All means are being used to find these criminals. On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised."
The regional president of the Eure region said he was "frozen with horror" by the "appalling carnage", adding: "I sincerely hope that the gang of killers who carried out this bloody attack will be quickly arrested. All my thoughts go to the families of the service agents, penitentiary who escorted the detainees and who were killed or seriously injured during this attack which gave them no chance. I also think of all the prison administration guards who, every day, guard prisoners at the risk of their lives."
Emmanuel 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."
Footage shared online from the scene in northern France showed attackers in hoods holding guns, with armed officers later seen patrolling the side of a main road. Military police officers (gendarmerie) in the region activated the Épervier plan, which placed all levels of security on 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 been at the scene.
A section of the National road 154 was closed by police in for an "indefinite period". Helicopters are flying over the area to find the prisoners, while police from the local search section have also been mobilised. The GIGN tactical firearms police unit is also reported to be involved.