A Notorious Criminal Escapes French Prison Using a Hijacked Helicopter

A notorious French gangster pulled off a daring prison escape this weekend with the help of three heavily armed conspirators and a hostage helicopter pilot.

The man in question, Redoine Faid, is a curious character, known for his life of crime and his memoir, Braqueur: Des cités au grand banditisme (“Braqueur: From The Projects To The Height Of Banditry”). The memoir describes Faid’s life growing up in the crime-ridden suburbs of Paris, his obsession with American mobster films, and how this culminated into a life of lawlessness. He first spent prison time in 1997, where he served ten years, was released on parole, and was later forced to return after breaking his parole.

Faid, 46, has been serving a 25-year sentence for a failed robbery attempt in 2010 during which a police officer was killed.

This is not Faid’s first prison break either, with that one occurring in 2013, after which he spent six weeks on the run before being brought back to justice. All of France is on high alert, and those at the Sud-Francilien prison will use every tactic in their arsenal to bring this slippery criminal back in.

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