Brazen escape lands French bandit on Interpol list
Source: AFP |
April 16, 2013, Tuesday
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POLICE in France and Belgium are intensively searching for a dangerous convicted bank robber who dynamited his way out of a French prison on the weekend with the help of as-yet unidentified accomplices.
A Europe-wide alert for the fugitive, 40-year-old Redoine Faid, is in effect, as is an Interpol bulletin, and France has set more than 100 investigators on his trail.
Faid, who was serving time for past robberies and risked a heavy sentence over the 2010 death of a policewoman, used explosives to blast his way out of the Sequedin penitentiary just 15 kilometers from the Belgian border. Armed with a pistol, he briefly took four guards hostage for his escape.
All the hostages were released unharmed. The first getaway car was found burnt along the highway, where Faid is believed to have switched to a second vehicle.
French police remain stumped as to how Faid got his hands on the weapon and the explosives.
His brother, who visited the prison the morning of the escape, was kept in detention for qu
estioning all day on Sunday, but was finally released when investigators confirmed he had had no contact with Faid.
"It's a painstaking investigation that has started. Obviously, he had one or several accomplices. The role of the investigators is to work out how he was able to possess explosives and a weapon in prison," the prosecutor for the French city of Lille, Frederic Fevre, said.
A spokeswoman for Belgian Federal Police said roadblocks had not been ordered but that train stations and airports were being closely watched.
French officials have warned that Faid, who grew up in tough immigrant suburbs outside of Paris, is considered armed and "especially dangerous."
Faid was in prison since mid-2011 for breaking the terms of his parole over past convictions for bank robberies and brazen heists of cash-in-transit vehicles.
A Europe-wide alert for the fugitive, 40-year-old Redoine Faid, is in effect, as is an Interpol bulletin, and France has set more than 100 investigators on his trail.
Faid, who was serving time for past robberies and risked a heavy sentence over the 2010 death of a policewoman, used explosives to blast his way out of the Sequedin penitentiary just 15 kilometers from the Belgian border. Armed with a pistol, he briefly took four guards hostage for his escape.
All the hostages were released unharmed. The first getaway car was found burnt along the highway, where Faid is believed to have switched to a second vehicle.
French police remain stumped as to how Faid got his hands on the weapon and the explosives.
His brother, who visited the prison the morning of the escape, was kept in detention for qu
estioning all day on Sunday, but was finally released when investigators confirmed he had had no contact with Faid.
"It's a painstaking investigation that has started. Obviously, he had one or several accomplices. The role of the investigators is to work out how he was able to possess explosives and a weapon in prison," the prosecutor for the French city of Lille, Frederic Fevre, said.
A spokeswoman for Belgian Federal Police said roadblocks had not been ordered but that train stations and airports were being closely watched.
French officials have warned that Faid, who grew up in tough immigrant suburbs outside of Paris, is considered armed and "especially dangerous."
Faid was in prison since mid-2011 for breaking the terms of his parole over past convictions for bank robberies and brazen heists of cash-in-transit vehicles.
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