Mohamed Amra was arrested in Bucharest at the end of Feb 2025, ending a nine-month manhunt. (EPA Images pic)
PARIS: French authorities have, in the last two weeks, charged over two dozen suspects in the deadly escape of suspected drugs gangland kingpin Mohamed Amra from custody. Amra was extradited back to France after being re-arrested in Romania, the Paris prosecutor said on Saturday.
Amra’s escape in May 2024 at a road toll while in a prison van saw two prison guards killed and prompted a months-long manhunt for the man dubbed “la Mouche” (the Fly).
Once Amra was re-arrested in Romania, authorities launched a search for those who aided him in his escape across France to the eastern European country.
Eight more suspects were charged on Friday night, bringing the number of people charged in the case, including Amra himself, to 28.
Among the suspects charged on Friday were individuals suspected of providing Amra with assistance in a key initial phase of his escape, when he rented an apartment in the town of Compiegne north of Paris, from May-October 2024, according to prosecutor Laure Beccuau.
Six other suspects are accused of being part of the team that helped engineer Amra’s escape: two lookouts – one of whom also drove a vehicle – two other vehicle drivers and two passengers.
But, she also said those who played a more minor part in the escape needed to be punished as “without them, everything would have been more difficult” for Amra.
However, several sources close to the case, asking not to be named, have expressed their fears to AFP over the risk of a rush to fast justice with disproportionate verdicts.
Two young residents of Compiegne, who had no criminal record, were indicted on Friday and remanded in custody: they are suspected of having rented the accommodation used by Amra. They claim not to have known that the drug trafficker would be hiding there.
Mohamed Amra, 30, escaped on May 14 2024, while being moved from his cell in the northern Normandy region.
A team of gunmen attacked the prison van at a road toll with a car and assault rifles to free him, killing two prison officers, Arnaud Garcia and Fabrice Moello, and wounding three others.
Amra was arrested near a shopping centre in Bucharest after months on the run, during which the French government labelled him “public enemy number one”.
At the time of his escape, Amra was facing one charge for attempted murder and another for participation in a gangland killing in the southern city of Marseille, a hub for drug trafficking and gang violence.
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