July 1 (UPI) — A notorious French murderer serving a 25-year sentence used an eye-catching method to escape from prison Sunday — getting away in a helicopter as armed gunmen distracted guards, the French justice ministry said.
Redoine Faid, 46, escaped the Reau prison south of Paris after armed men broke into the facility and created a diversion, officials said. No one was injured in the incident.
Officials later found the burnt and abandoned helicopter in Garges-les-Gonesse north of Paris.
Faid was serving 25 years in prison for a bank robbery that resulted in the death of a police officer. He escaped once before, from the Sequedin prison in 2013, using explosives to bust out of prison with the assistance after taking four guards hostage.
The BBC said Said headed a gang that took part in robbery and extortion schemes in Paris in the 1990s. He wrote a book in 2010 saying he had given up a life of crime.
