Everything we know about The Fly: ‘Drug boss’ inmate on the run after two French prison officers shot dead

A suspected drug boss is being hunted by hundreds of police officers after he escaped when his prison van was ambushed by armed gunmen in France.

Two prison officers were shot dead while three others were seriously injured during the shooting, which occurred in broad daylight on a motorway around an hour from Paris. Named as Mohammed Amra, 30, he is understood to be the boss of a narcotics network who is known by the nickname “La Mouche”, which translates to “The Fly”.

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Dramatic footage from the scene shows men wearing black sports clothes using automatic machine pistols, while horrified motorists look on.

The group then escaped with a large-scale nationwide manhunt ongoing. President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to find the perpetrators of the ambush, which has left a number other prison officers fighting for life.

What happened?

At around 9am local on Tuesday, 14 May, a prison van was ambushed by a group of hooded men near a tollbooth in Val-de-Reuil in Normandy.

Video footage appears to show a collision between the prison van and a black vehicle, while images have also appeared of the suspects carrying guns.

Two male prison officers were killed while another three are receiving treatment after they were seriously injured by gunfire, with two in critical condition.

The prisoner they were escorting, Mohamed Amra, was then able to escape with the gunmen in two vehicles, which were quickly abandoned and burned. According to local reports, the white Audi A5 was found ablaze in nearby Vatteville, Eure.

Eric Dupond-Moretti, France’s minister of justice, has said one of the prisoner officers who was killed left behind a partner who was five months pregnant, while the other had a wife and two children.

Who is Mohamed Amra?

Reportedly the head of an organised drugs network, Mohamed Amra was already under high surveillance and had recently been sentenced for burglary.

At the time of the prison van ambush, the 30-year-old was being transported to Evreux jail after attending a court hearing in Rouen, and was also under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case in Marseille.

According to BFMTV, Amra was sentenced to 18 months in prison last Tuesday for aggravated thefts, in particular thefts from supermarkets and businesses between August and October 2019.

Le Parisien reports that he is nicknamed “‘a Mouche”, which translates literally to “The Fly”, with a prison source telling the newspaper that he had attempted to saw the bars of his cell two days ago. He had reportedly been placed in solitary confinement and his surveillance level had been raised after the escape attempt.

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin posted on X: "All means are being used to find these criminals.

"On my instructions, several hundred police officers and gendarmes were mobilised.