https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2018/07/01/redoine-faid-helicopter-prison-escape-sparks-manhunt-in-france/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.540a35bd3638

For obvious reasons, not a lot is publicly broadcast about the security measures in place at the Sud Francilien Penitentiary Center in Reau, France, about 25 miles southeast of Paris.

An old brochure for the facility, published before it was constructed in 2011, boasted of an “exceptional” penitentiary that would feature diverse landscaping: There would be meadows, embankments, ditches to retain water. About 200 trees and 9,000 plants and shrubs would be planted on the campus. Two facilities would house more than 500 male and female prisoners.

The brochure included no mention of a courtyard — large enough for a light utility helicopter such as, say, an Aerospatiale Alouette II — that would, notably, be the only part of the prison not covered by “anti-helicopter netting,” according to the Associated Press.

Less than a decade later, on a warm Sunday morning, a small white helicopter would fly over the prison’s plentiful foliage and land in the aforementioned courtyard. The passenger it sought was a 46-year-old gangster named Rédoine Faïd, who had been serving a 25-year sentence at the prison for armed robbery and murder.

Soon, Faïd reportedly appeared in the courtyard, escorted by armed accomplices who had freed him from the prison visiting room, and boarded the aircraft, Reuters reported. Moments later, the convict disappeared into the sky and out of captivity — all in broad daylight.

The actual prison break took “a few minutes,” according to France’s Justice Ministry, but the plans had been unfolding all morning.

Earlier Sunday, Faïd’s associates had taken a helicopter pilot hostage at a nearby flight school, forcing him to fly to the prison, the BBC reported. Afterward, three armed men created a diversion at the prison entrance as the hijacked helicopter touched down in the courtyard, according to the news site.



Faïd’s escape spurred a massive manhunt across greater Paris. Not long after the prison break, the helicopter was found abandoned in a field in Gonesse, a suburb just northeast of Paris, photos of the scene showed.

Faïd allegedly then got into a black escape vehicle, which also was found abandoned in Aulnay-sous-Bois, another Paris suburb, the BBC reported.

The French National Police said Sunday that it had mobilized its forces and urged people to notify authorities with any pertinent information. Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet visited the prison to evaluate security measures, according to her agency's Twitter account. She is set to appear on a French news program at 7:20 a.m. Monday, local time, to discuss the prison break.

James bond tinz