Two gunmen free prisoners in front of French court
The attackers waited at the courthouse and opened fire on the prison van, injuring two people.
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Police gather outside the courthouse in the southeastern French town of Tarascon, where two gunmen freed a prisoner. Photo:AFP. |
French officials say two armed men attacked a prison van on January 28 just outside a courthouse in the town of Tarascon,AFPThe prisoner in the car was Lotfi Boussouak, 27, who was arrested in September 2017 on charges of armed robbery.
Two attackers waited outside the courthouse and opened fire when the car arrived. The three prison guards who had been escorting Boussouak from a prison 150km away were “deeply shocked” by the incident, but were fortunately not hit.
Local prosecutor Patrick Desjardins said one of the guards was hit with a gun butt after getting out of his car to ring the bell outside the courthouse, while another was hit by broken glass.
The two attackers and the prisoner fled the scene and escaped. The prosecutor added that Boussouak had 14 previous convictions, but was not yet on special supervision.
Another prison break occurred in France in December 2018 when an inmate at Fresnes prison, south of Paris, escaped after climbing over a prison yard wall using a rope tied from a bed sheet.
Previously in July 2018, Redoine Faid, a "crime boss" serving a 25-year sentence, also successfully escaped from prison by helicopter, but was later recaptured.
