A suspected drugs boss known as “The Fly” has been recaptured nine months after escaping during an ambush that killed two French prison officers.
Mohamed Amra was arrested in Romania on Saturday, said France’s interior minister on X.
Bruno Retailleau congratulated those who detained the fugitive and thanked Romania for its help – but the exact circumstances are so far unclear.
Police had suspected Mohamed Amra would try to flee abroad
Father-of-two Fabrice Moello, 52, and Arnaud Garcia, 34, who was soon to be a father, were killed during May’s escape.
Three others were also seriously wounded when the convoy transporting Amra from court to jail was ambushed at a tollbooth near Rouen.
CCTV showed a black SUV driving into the front of the prison van, with other video showing at least two armed men in balaclavas circling the car in flames.
Hundreds of law enforcement were involved in the manhunt and an Interpol red notice was issued – a global alert for a person’s arrest.
Fabrice Moello and Arnaud Garcia were killed during the escape
Amra – who was 30 at the time of his escape – had multiple convictions for relatively minor offences, but was strongly suspected of being involved in international drug dealing.
Police sources have linked him to a powerful Marseille gang, while prosecutors were investigating him over a kidnapping and homicide in the city.
Amra is also suspected of ordering the assassination of a Frenchman in Spain in 2023.
Read more: Who is ‘The Fly’?
He had just been sentenced to 18 months for burglary when he escaped.
A prison source told Le Parisien that Amra had tried to saw the bars off his cell two days before the ambush and was put in solitary confinement.
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The killing of the prison officers sparked a major protest across France by prison staff.
President Emmanuel Macron congratulated those who had been pursuing Amra for months and said his thoughts remained with the victims’ families.
