France prison van attack: Two officers killed and inmate ‘The Fly’ on the run after ambush
Hundreds of officers join hunt for Mohamed Amra, who fled after deadly ambush on prison convoy at motorway tollbooth
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A suspected drugs boss nicknamed “The Fly” escaped when masked gunmen ambushed his prison van in northern France in a brazen attack that left two guards dead.
The horror unfolded at a motorway tollbooth at Incarville, near the town of Val-de-Reuil in Normandy, at around 9am local time on Tuesday.
Two officers were shot dead and three others were left seriously injured while the prisoner, named by French media as Mohamed Amra, ran free.
Shocking footage showed the hooded attackers firing automatic machine guns at the prison van, that had been stopped by a black car ploughing into its front.
As the gunmen surrounded the vehicle, another video captured one of them opening a door before the detainee was released in full view of shocked motorists.
For updates on the manhunt as more emerges on the incident, follow our live blog by clicking here
Amra, 30, who is known as “La Mouche” [The Fly], was reportedly sentenced to 18 months in prison last week for a series of aggravated thefts, but was also being held in connection with the murder of a man in Marseille two years ago.
A police source told RTL: “He is suspected of having ordered an assassination in Marseille on 17 June 2022. The charred corpse of a man was found in a burned vehicle, in the town of Le Rove, bordering Marseille. The victim had obviously been executed beforehand with a bullet to the head.”
A police source also told Le Parisien that Amra was “the head of a narcotics network” in France who was being transferred to Evreux jail after attending a court hearing in Rouen.
Amra, who has 13 convictions, was under special surveillance, but not considered radicalised or a terrorist suspect, said Éric Dupond-Moretti, France’s justice minister.
Hundreds of police officers have now joined the country’s anti-terrorist police unit GIGN in a nationwide hunt for the escaped detainee and the two gunmen, who it’s reported escaped in two cars, with one later found abandoned and burned out.
President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to find the perpetrators.
“I was frozen with horror when I learned of the real carnage that took place at the Incarville tollbooth,” said Alexandre Rassaert, president of the Eure departmental council, which covers Vale-de-Reuil. “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 who escorted the detainees and who were killed or seriously injured during this attack which gave them no chance.”
Speaking to French broadcaster BFMTV, Amra’s lawyer Hugues Vigier said he was “utterly shocked” by the incident and that the escapee had seemed “perfectly normal” during a meeting on Tuesday morning.
“For me this plan doesn’t match with what I know of him,” he said. “If he’s behind it then I failed to understand who he is.”
The two men killed were identified on Tuesday afternoon as agents from the regional centre for judicial extractions, based in Caen. One was a 21-year-old father-of-two who leaves a widow, and the other an expectant father whose wife was five months pregnant, it was reported.
Mr Dupond-Moretti posted on X: “Two of our prison officers have died, three are seriously injured. All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues.”
President Macron said on Twitter: “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.”
Minister of the interior Gérald Darmanin said he had launched an “Epervier plan”, a nationwide manhunt, to find the criminals.
“Sincere and saddened condolences to the bereaved families and agents of the ministry of justice,” he posted. “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.”
Following the incident, the road was closed by police for an investigation with forensic teams seen at the site.