French convict escapes prison (again)-this time on a helicopter

Authorities in Paris launched a dragnet around the French capital on Sunday after a notorious criminal serving 25 years for murder used a helicopter to escape from a prison which is in the south of Paris.

France’s Justice Ministry said 46-year-old Redoine Faid’s escape only took “a few minutes” and no one was injured or taken a hostage at Reau Prison, located in the southeastern suburbs of Paris.

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“An armed commando group landed in the courtyard of the Sud-Francilien prison in Reau while he was in the visitors’ room,” the prison authority said.

Three armed accomplices were involved in the escape and hacked through a lock that gave them access to a hallway where Fair was waiting with his brothers, Agence France-Presse reported, citing sources close to the case.

The escape on Sunday was the second time Faid had escaped from a French prison. In 2013, he blasted his way out of prison with explosives concealed in tissue packs before he was arrested at a hotel six weeks later.

Faid was once France’s most-wanted man and previously said his life of crime was inspired by films such as “Scarface,” according to AFP.

In the 1990s, Faid led a criminal gang involved in an armed robbery of banks and armoured vans transporting money. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel, according to the French media.

Faid was freed in 2009 after serving 10 years in prison. At the time he swore that he had turned his life around, writing a confessional book about his life of crime and going on an extensive media tour in 2010.

Faid was convicted of the murder of the policewoman, along with two accomplices.