Loki
04-15-2013, 01:06 AM
Manhunt for French gangster who used gun, explosives to escape prison (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/13/world/europe/france-prison-escape/index.html?hpt=hp_t3)
(CNN) -- Redoine Faid fashioned himself as a modern-day gangster. He thought big -- getting inspiration from the movies, as when he wore a hockey mask like Robert DeNiro's character in "Heat" -- and acted audaciously, attacking armored trucks among other targets.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130414134117-redoine-faid-story-body.jpg
After more than a decade in prison, though, the Frenchman insisted he'd sworn off his wicked ways.
This promise didn't last for long, according to French authorities. In 2011, a year after his autobiography came out, Faid landed back behind bars.
Now, he is once again free -- and, once again, the subject of an international manhunt after his brazen escape from prison.
Faid held five people, including four guards, at gunpoint at a detention center in the northern city of Lille on Saturday, officials said. He then burst his way to freedom, detonating explosives to destroy five doors, penitentiary union spokesman Etienne Dobrometz told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Where he is now is anyone's guess. French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told reporters on Saturday that a European arrest warrant covering 26 countries has been issued, and that Interpol is working to track him down as well.
One person not surprised by Faid's breakout is his lawyer, Jean-Louis Pelletier. In a few days, Pelletier had planned to meet his client in preparation of an upcoming trial tied to a May 2010 attack in Villiers-sur-Marne, east of Paris, that left a 26-year-old policewoman dead.
"He is remarkably intelligent, and he is using his intellect to serve his ambitions," Pelletier told BFMTV. "(And Faid) cannot stand being imprisoned anymore."
(CNN) -- Redoine Faid fashioned himself as a modern-day gangster. He thought big -- getting inspiration from the movies, as when he wore a hockey mask like Robert DeNiro's character in "Heat" -- and acted audaciously, attacking armored trucks among other targets.
http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/assets/130414134117-redoine-faid-story-body.jpg
After more than a decade in prison, though, the Frenchman insisted he'd sworn off his wicked ways.
This promise didn't last for long, according to French authorities. In 2011, a year after his autobiography came out, Faid landed back behind bars.
Now, he is once again free -- and, once again, the subject of an international manhunt after his brazen escape from prison.
Faid held five people, including four guards, at gunpoint at a detention center in the northern city of Lille on Saturday, officials said. He then burst his way to freedom, detonating explosives to destroy five doors, penitentiary union spokesman Etienne Dobrometz told CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Where he is now is anyone's guess. French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told reporters on Saturday that a European arrest warrant covering 26 countries has been issued, and that Interpol is working to track him down as well.
One person not surprised by Faid's breakout is his lawyer, Jean-Louis Pelletier. In a few days, Pelletier had planned to meet his client in preparation of an upcoming trial tied to a May 2010 attack in Villiers-sur-Marne, east of Paris, that left a 26-year-old policewoman dead.
"He is remarkably intelligent, and he is using his intellect to serve his ambitions," Pelletier told BFMTV. "(And Faid) cannot stand being imprisoned anymore."