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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Holly Evans,Alisha Rahaman Sarkar and Tara Cobham

France prison van attack – live: 350 officers hunt ‘public enemies number one’ as The Fly remains at large

Emergency services attend deadly police van ambush as prisoner escapes in France

Hundreds of officers are hunting for “public enemies number one” as escaped French inmate ‘The Fly’ and four gunmen remain at large after a bloody attack that left two prison guards dead.

Minister of the Interior Gérald Darmanin told France 2 on Thursday that 350 investigators are still mobilised in France in the third day of the search, which he previously described as “unprecedented” when speaking on RTL radio.

Interpol on Wednesday said it issued an international arrest warrant, a ‘Red Notice’, for fugitive Mohamed Amra, 30, at the request of French authorities.

The suspected drug boss, nicknamed ‘La Mouche’ or ‘The Fly’, was being transported from a court hearing in Rouen to a secure jail in Evreux when his prison van was ambushed by four gunmen shortly after 11am on Tuesday.

The assailants killed two prison officers in machine gun fire, seriously injured three others, and sprung Amra, the convict the guards were escorting, on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil in Normandy, before the five fled in two cars that were later found abandoned and burned.

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