Rédoine Faïd, a French gangster who broke out of jail using a hijacked helicopter in July, has been recaptured, police sources say.
The country’s most wanted fugitive, he was detained north of Paris, reportedly with his brother and two men.
Faïd, 46, is a fan of gangster films, which he credits with teaching him how to pull off raids.
He was first arrested in 1998 for armed robbery. The 1 July jailbreak was his second and most dramatic escape.
He was sprung from a prison in Reau, south-east of Paris, by three heavily armed men who broke into the visitor’s room. They then bundled him into a helicopter flown by a flying instructor who had been taken hostage.
Faïd had been serving a 25-year sentence for masterminding a botched robbery in which a policewoman was killed in 2010.
He was recaptured in the early hours of Wednesday in the town of Creil.
French Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet told Europe 1 radio: “We’re going to put him in a high-security facility where he will be watched extremely closely.” Read more