A notorious French gangster has managed to escape prison again. This time, with help from armed friends using a hijacked helicopter and smoke bombs. Redoine Faid, 46, who escaped prison five years ago using explosives, broke out of a prison near Paris on Sunday. He was serving a 25-year sentence for planning a robbery where a police officer was killed. Two or three men armed with assault rifles hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to fly to Faid's prison in Seine-et-Marne. When the helicopter landed, two men dressed all in black, opened the prison door using a grinding machine and took Faid. At the time, he was meeting with his brother in a visitation room, members of the guards’ union, told France's BFM television. The men set off smoke bombs to blur the scene from video surveillance, union member Loic Delbroc said. France’s Justice Ministry said the escape was over in just "a few minutes." More:Calif. prisoners filmed escape, life on the run More:Escape from Alcatraz: Letter claiming inmates survived 'inconclusive' Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet, who travelled to the Sud-Francilien prison in Réau on Sunday evening, called it "a spectacular escape," BBC reports. In the 1990s, Faid led a gang known for robbing banks. He escaped prison in 2013 using explosives hidden in packs of tissues. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Follow Ashley May on Twitter: @AshleyMayTweets<doc-sep>THIS is the incredible moment a notorious French gangster breaks out of prison in a hijacked helicopter. Redoine Faid made his escape yesterday morning after his accomplices landed the chopper in the Réau prison courtyard and flew him out. 11 This footage appears to show the helicopter leaving the prison The 46-year-old had been serving a 25-year sentence for a failed robbery during which a police officer was killed. He is one of the country's most infamous gangsters with a long criminal career, which he has said was inspired by Hollywood blockbuster movies such as "Scarface" and "Heat". Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said a helicopter landed in a courtyard, which was not covered by any nets. She said: "This was a spectacular escape. It was an extremely well-prepared commando unit that may have used drones to survey the area beforehand. 11 A second grab shows it flying off into the distance 11 Notorious French criminal Redoine Faid had been serving a 25-year jail sentence Credit: AP:Associated Press 11 Police removed a helicopter believed to have been used in the escape Credit: EPA 11 Armed cops kept watch around the abandoned helicopter Credit: EPA 11 French gendarmes man roadblock checkpoint as part of a wide-scale police operation dubbed 'Epervier Plan' Credit: EPA 11 A car was also abandoned by French armed robber Redoine Faid at O'Parinor shopping centre Credit: AFP or licensors Two gunmen jumped from the helicopter to free Faid from the visitors' room where he was meeting one of his brothers before escaping in the helicopter, she said. The helicopter then flew to the nearby Gonesse area, where it was then found burnt out by local police at around 11.20am local time. Previously named France's most-wanted criminal, Redoine escaped from the building in a Belgium-registered helicopter, officials said. It was also reported the group used smoke to obscure the views of cameras inside the compound. There were also concerns that Faid, who trained with Israeli soldiers when he was in his 20s and learnt Hebrew, would disguise himself as an Orthodox Jew and try to get to the Middle East country to start a new life. A Paris security source said: "Israel is a popular destination for those fleeing justice in France, and Faid may well try and go back there." 11 Redoine escaped from prison with the help of three heavily armed mobsters and a helicopter Credit: AFP or licensors 11 The escape helicopter had been set alight when police discovered it soon after the escape Credit: AFP or licensors 11 Faid here promoting his book after swearing he'd turned his back on crime Credit: Rex Features 11 Redoine was once France's most wanted criminal Credit: AFP or licensors This is Redoine's second prison break. In 2013 he took four guards hostage as human shields and destroyed multiple doors with explosives less than 30 minutes after arriving at Sequedin prison in Northern France. At the time he had been trying to get hold of forged documents that would get him to Israel, a country he has offered praise and expressed his love for. 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Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.<doc-sep>French police have launched a nationwide manhunt to track down a career criminal who escaped from a jail south of Paris on Sunday, AFP has reported. Redoine Faid—jailed for a failed robbery in which a police officer was killed—broke free from the Sud-Francilien prison with the help of three men armed with assault rifles who hijacked a helicopter and held the pilot hostage. Two of the gunmen used smoke bombs and angle grinders to break into the visitors' room and rescue Faid, who was being visited by his brother at the time. The chopper then lifted out of the prison yard and away to freedom. The aircraft was later found abandoned in Gonesse, to the northeast of Paris. The pilot is being treated for shock but was said to be otherwise unharmed. He was reportedly waiting for a student at a nearby airstrip when the gunmen took him hostage and directed him to the prison. The chopper landed in the prison front yard—the only part of the facility not equipped with anti-aircraft netting. According to prison union representative Martial Delabroye, the yard is not covered because inmates only ever use it "to leave the prison." After ditching the helicopter, Faid is believed to have switched to a black Renault Megane which was later found abandoned in a parking lot a short drive from Gonesse. Authorities think he then got into a white van to continue his escape. Around 2,900 officers have been brought in to hunt down Faid, a police official told AFP. The French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet described the incident as "a spectacular escape" executed by "an extremely well-prepared commando unit that may have used drones to survey the area beforehand." The weekend's audacious escape is in keeping with the 46-year-old's previous exploits, which have made him one of the most high profile—and now most wanted—criminals in France. Born in 1972 to Algerian immigrants living in the northern French town of Creil, Faid gravitated towards crime as a youth. By the 1990s, he was running his own gang engaged in armed robbery and extortion in Paris. Faid says he modeled his lifestyle—and crimes—on Hollywood gangster movies, and was especially influenced by drug underworld thriller Scarface and the daring bank robbers depicted in Heat. He apparently once spoke to Heat director Michael Mann at a Paris film festival and told him, "You were my technical adviser." His first escape from justice came in the 1990s when he spent three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel to avoid armed robbery charges. During this time, Faid claims to have learned Hebrew to pose as an ultra-Orthodox Jew and trained in firearms skills with an Israeli soldier. French authorities caught up with him in 1998, sentencing him to 30 years in prison. Faid was freed on parole after 10 years. He opened up about his life of organized crime in a 2009 autobiography, earning him the nickname "L'Écrivain"—"the writer"—among French police. In his book, Faid claimed to have walked away from organized crime, but by 2011 was back behind bars having breached his terms of release. His next escape would come in 2013—less than 30 minutes of being transferred to a prison facility in Sequedin, outside Lille—taking four guards hostage at gunpoint and blowing his way out of detention using dynamite to destroy five doors. He remained on the run for six weeks before he was recaptured. In 2017, Faid was handed a 10-year sentence for the 2013 escape. He was also sentenced to another 18 years for his involvement in a failed 2010 robbery in which 26-year-old police officer Aurelie Fouquet was killed. When his appeal failed in April 2018 his sentence was increased to 25 years. It would appear this sentence prompted Faid to mount his latest escape.<doc-sep>The prison courtyard where the helicopter landed was the only area not protected by anti-aircraft netting. Prison union representative Martial Delabroye said that was because inmates do not use it, "except to leave the prison".<doc-sep>
A notorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder used a helicopter to escape from a prison near Paris. Redoine Faid's break-out has triggered a huge manhunt around the French capital. It is his second escape - last time he blasted his way out of jail with hidden explosives. France's justice ministry said Faid's escape on Sunday only took a few minutes and nobody was injured or taken hostage at the Reau Prison just south of the French capital. The ministry said an armed commando landed in a helicopter in the courtyard as the prisoner was in the visiting room of the prison. A union representative at Reau Prison, Martial Delabroye, told BFM television that two men dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and police armbands entered in the prison to look for Faid. He said they used a grinding machine to open the door that leads to the visiting room. Image: Forensics examine the scene where the helicopter was found The helicopter was later found abandoned in the town of Garges-les-Gonesse, in the northern suburbs of Paris. Faid is believed to have fled by car along with his accomplices. French prosecutors have opened an investigation but it is not the first time Faid, 46, has gone on the run. In 2013, he blasted his way out of prison with explosives concealed in tissue packets and was arrested at a hotel six weeks later. Faid was jailed for 25 years for the death of a young policewoman killed during a botched robbery in 2010. In the 1990s, Faid led a criminal gang involved in the armed robbery of banks and armoured vans transporting cash. He was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in Switzerland and Israel, according to French media. Image: A court sketch of Redoine Faid, who has escaped from a prison near Paris Faid was freed in 2009 after serving 10 years in prison and at the time he swore he had turned his life around. He penned a confessional book about his life of crime and embarked on an extensive media tour in 2010. But he was suspected of masterminding an attempted armed robbery in 2010 that led to a high-speed chase and a shootout with police in which 26-year-old policewoman Aurelie Fouquet was killed. He was arrested in 2011. Faid, along with two accomplices, was convicted for the murder of the policewoman.