A French convict who went on the run after escaping a police van in a lethal ambush has been arrested in Romania, French authorities have mentioned.
Two jail officers had been killed and three others injured when a car carrying Mohamed Amra was attacked by males utilizing military-grade assault weapons in Might 2024.
Amra, generally known as La Mouche, or The Fly, has hyperlinks to a significant drug gang in Marseille, in response to French police.
President Emmanuel Macron hailed his seize as “a formidable success” and mentioned his ideas had been with the households of the jail officers who died.
Amra was arrested in Bucharest and had been recognized by facial recognition instruments and his fingerprints, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau mentioned. He had modified his look and dyed his hair.
On Sunday, Beccuau introduced the arrest of 10 individuals “suspected of getting helped within the preparation and execution of the escape, and having helped the fugitive to cover”.
Macron mentioned he additionally needed “to thank our European colleagues and French investigators who had been searching Mohamed Amra for months and months”.
France’s Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau thanked Romania for its “essential cooperation”.
Amra escaped from a jail van after the car was ambushed by gunmen at a toll sales space at round 11:00 (09:00 GMT) on 14 Might close to Rouen, Normandy.
Two prisoner officers had been killed after the van was rammed and pictures had been fired. Three different officers had been injured.
The gunmen escaped in a automotive which police later discovered deserted near the place the assault occurred.
The Paris prosecutor’s workplace mentioned Amra had been convicted of housebreaking by a court docket in Evreux on 10 Might and was being held at a jail in Val-de-Reuil till his escape on 14 Might.
He had additionally been indicted by prosecutors in Marseille for a kidnapping that led to a demise, it mentioned.
Amra was not a “intently watched inmate”, Beccuau mentioned on the time, utilizing a time period for extremely harmful prisoners.
Nonetheless, his transportation nonetheless reportedly required a “degree three escort” which meant there have been 5 jail officers travelling with him.
His lawyer on the time, Hugues Vigier, mentioned Amra had tried to flee jail the weekend earlier than the ambush by sawing the bars of his cell, however mentioned he was shocked by the “inexcusable” and “insane” violence.
“This doesn’t correspond to the impression that I had of him,” the lawyer instructed BFMTV.
On the time, Macron mentioned “every thing” was being executed to search out the perpetrators of the assault, which marked the primary deaths of French jail officers within the line of responsibility since 1992.
Greater than 300 investigators had been assigned to trace Amra down and roadblocks had been arrange throughout north-west France, in response to police.
“After a manhunt lasting a number of months, Amra has been arrested, lastly!” Prime Minister Francois Bayrou wrote on X on Saturday.
