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A suspected drug boss is being hunted by hundreds of police officers after escaping from a prison van fatally ambushed by four gunmen at a motorway tolbooth in northern France.
At least two prison officers were killed in the attack launched shortly after 11am on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil in Normandy, according to local reports. Three more are seriously injured, said France’s justice minister Eric Dupond-Morett.
The escaped prisoner who fled alongside the attackers was been named in local media as 30-year-old Mohamed A and is nicknamed “La Mouche”, which translates literally to “The Fly”, according to Le Parisien. A police source told the outlet that he is described as being at the head of a narcotics network.
Interior minister Gérald Darmanin said hundreds of police officers and gendarmes had been mobilised, with president Emmanuel Macron vowing that everything was being done to find the perpetrators.
Footage from the scene near the commune of Incarville appeared to show a hooded attacker in all black firing an assault rifle at the prisoner convoy. One of the attackers was injured in retaliatory fire, a prison officer union boss said.
Minute’s silence held in French parliament
A minute’s silence has been held in the French parliament, where prime minister Gabriel Attal told the chamber that “ours is a country that will never cower to violence, that will remain united”.
“Everything will be put in place to track down perpetrators ... we will spare no effort or men,” Mr Attal said, adding: “I’m telling you, they will pay. We owe it to their families, loved ones, prison officers and to all French citizens.”
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 14:35
Fugitive convicted for burglary and being probed over kidnapping and homicide, prosecutor says
The van was transporting prisoner Mohamed Amra when it was ambushed, Reuters reports.
Amra was under high surveillance and had recently been sentenced for burglary. He was also under investigation for a kidnapping and homicide case in Marseille, according to public prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 14:15
Wife of killed prison officer is five months pregnant
One of the killed officers had a wife and two children, while the other leaves behind a wife who is five months pregnant, France’s justice minister Eric Dupond-Moretti has said.
The perpetrators of the ambush during a transfer from a courthouse to a prison in Rouen “didn’t hesitate to shoot the prison officers using heavy weapons”, he said.
Mr Dupond-Moretti said he was travelling to Caen to meet the colleagues of the killed officers, adding: “Everything – and I mean everything – will be put in place to find the perpetrators of this vile crime. They are people for whom life has no value. They will be found and punished in a way proportionate to the crime.”
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 14:09
Fugitive was ‘particularly monitored detainee’, says Paris prosecutor
The detainee on the run after the van attack was a “particularly monitored detainee” (DPS), Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau has announced.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:52
Footage shows emergency services attending deadly police van ambush
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:47
Two officers in particularly critical state, justice minister says
France’s justice minister Éric Dupond-Moretti said two of the three injured prison officers are in a particularly critical state.
“Absolutely everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” he told BFM TV. “These are people for whom life means nothing. They will be arrested, judged and punished according to the crime they committed.”
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:40
Watch: Deadly ambush on French police van seen from passing coach
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:25
‘Everything being done’ to find perpetrators, says Macron
France’s president Emmanuel Macron has vowed that “everything is being done to find the perpetrators” of the prison van ambush.
He wrote: “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.”
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:24
Escaped prisoner nicknamed ‘La Mouche’ is suspected of ordering Marseille murder, police sources claim
The escaped prisoner has been named in local media as 30-year-old Mohamed A.
Nicknamed “La Mouche” – which translates literally to “The Fly” – he was jailed for “attempted homicide” in Saint-Etienne du Rouvray, having been incarcerated at the Baumettes prison and the Santé prison before arriving in Evreux, reported Le Parisien.
A police source claimed to the outlet that the fugitive is described as being at the head of a narcotics network, according to a police source in Le Parisien.
Both Le Parisien and BFM TV cited sources as saying that the man was not listed as a “particularly notable detainee”, with the latter reporting that he was sentenced to 18 months in prison last Tuesday by the Évreux judicial court for aggravated thefts, in particular from supermarkets and businesses in the commune’s suburbs.
He was also indicted for attempted homicide in Saint-Étienne du-Rouvray, and in Marseille for intentional homicide committed in June 2022 in Aubagne in a drug trafficking case, BFM TV reported.
A French police source also told Reuters that he was suspected of ordering a murder in Marseille, and had ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.
Drug crime has spiraled across Europe, which has been flooded with cocaine in recent years. Marseille has been the epicenter of France's gang violence, with a particularly violent war between trafficking clans.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:16
Images show men in balaclavas carrying rifles
Images on social media showed at least two men in balaclavas carrying rifles circling near an SUV that was in flames.
The SUV appeared to have been rammed into the front of the prison van.
Andy Gregory14 May 2024 13:02
