France, attack on the penitentiary convoy: two policemen killed, three very seriously. Prisoner on the run

In an attack that shows the growing threat of drug-related crime in Europe, a prison police van French he was attacked at the Eure motorway toll booth, in Normandy, on the morning of Tuesday 14 May. At least two officers were killedWhile three others were injured (and two of them were in danger of life). The prisoner – Mohamed Amra, known as «La Mouche», «The fly» – he fled and disappeared.

The criminals attacked the van transporting the prisoner from Rouen to Évreux with two cars: several men, dressed in black and with their faces covered, they started shooting against the prison vehicle, they recovered the inmate and moved away. One of the two cars was later found on fire near the Évreux hospital.

The escaped prisoner, Mohamed Amra, 30 years, nicknamed «The Fly», is originally from the neighborhood of La Sablière, in Rouen. He was sentenced last Tuesday to 18 months in prison for aggravated thefts in supermarkets and commercial activities between August and October 2019, and would not be included in the list of radicalized prisoners. «La Mouche» it had been also indicted in Marseille in 2022 for voluntary homicide, linked to drug trafficking, clerk in Aubagne. Before being detained in Évreux, the man had been in prison in Baumettes and La Santé; On Sunday he had tried to escape by sawing the bars of the cell.

Amra is classified as a “particularly notorious prisoner” (DPS) – that is, those prisoners who belong to local or inter-regional, national or international organized crime, or are linked to terrorist movements; or those whose escape could have a significant impact on public order or who are exposed to serious violence having committed one or more murders, rapes, acts of torture and barbarity in a prison.

The attack on the prison van occurred during a journey between the Rouen court, where Amra – now a fugitive – was to be heard by an investigating judge, and his return to Évreux prison. “All the police forces have been mobilized to find him,” a police source told Le Figaro.

French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti went together with the crisis unit to the site of the attack. «All my thoughts go out to the victims, their families and their colleagues», he writes on X. «One of them leaves his wife and two children who were supposed to celebrate their 21st birthday in two days. The other leaves a five-month pregnant woman, parents and friends”, adds the Minister of Justice.

According to a police source one of the bandits was injured. «At the toll booth
of Incarville, where traffic was stopped, there were several vehicles
police and a white tent was set up,” a correspondent noted
of the AFP on site. «The plan “Epervier” (in Italian «sparviero», it is a gendarmerie operation launched following a kidnapping or escape) has been activated. All means are used to find these criminals. On my order, several hundred police officers have been mobilized police and gendarmes,” Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin wrote in X. 200 gendarmes are involvedas well as a helicopter, a police source said.

French President Emmanuel Macron posted a message on “X”: «This drama is a shock for all of us and we will be very harsh towards those responsible. The nation stands by the families, the injured and their colleagues.”

He also expressed his opinion on the matter the French Prime Minister, Gabriel Attal. “This morning they fired against the Republic, against our justice, against the refusal of impunity,” Attal said in front of the deputies of the National Assemblée, who observed a minute’s silence in homage to the victims. Attal reported «an attack of unprecedented violence, due to the brutality and cowardice of its authors». «We will spare no effort, no means, everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this abject crime. We will hunt them down, we will find them and, here I tell you, they will pay.”

Article being updated…

May 14, 2024 (modified May 14, 2024 | 7:11 pm)

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