How escaped French drug kingpin ‘La Mouche' evaded capture for months
On the run for nine months, he was re-arrested in February near a shopping centre in Romania's capital Bucharest then extradited to France.
On the one-year anniversary of the escape, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit the families of the victims on Wednesday to pay tribute to the first prison officers killed in France in the line of duty since 1992.
On May 14th, 2024, a car crashed head-on into a prison van at a toll booth in France's northern Normandy region.
Moments later, a second car pulled up and four armed men jumped out, killing prison officers Arnaud Garcia and Fabrice Moello and leaving three others wounded.
At the time of the deadly ambush, Amra already had a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was only 15.
So when the assailants whisked the 30-year-old Normandy native into a waiting vehicle, French authorities launched a massive manhunt to track down the man described as 'public enemy number one'.
But a source close to the case said Amra was 'always one step ahead'.
Public prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed the Frenchman had been holed up in the city of Compiegne, then headed further north to Rouen before making his way to eastern Europe.
A network of accomplices suspected of helping finance the escape, including a childhood friend of Amra and rapper Koba LaD, allegedly aided the fugitive stay off the authorities' radar.
Even so, 'the net gradually closed in', said Beccuau, with the escapee arrested by Romanian authorities nine months after his getaway.
Authorities then intensified the search for those who aided him in his escape from France to the eastern European country, arresting more than three dozen alleged accomplices.
Advertisement
Among those arrested are the six suspected attackers in the May 2024 assault found as far afield as Thailand, Morocco and Spain – one of whom died in an accident in November.
But a lawyer for one of the accused said there are 'real doubts' about their involvement, with some 'categorically denying the charges'.
As for Amra, his lawyer said, 'no one can claim to know his role'.
'The fact that he benefited from the escape doesn't necessarily mean he planned it or knew what methods would be used,' said Lucas Montagnier.
In February, Justice Minister Gérald Darmanin promised the creation of 'prison police' units and a 'high security prison', in response to concerns that it has become too easy for convicted criminals to continue their business despite being locked up, thanks notably to mobile phone access.
Advertisement
Amra was suspected of ordering hits from prison, including in the months leading up to his breakout, when a close associate warned that La Mouche was giving someone called 'A' a week to pay a debt.
In late April, lawmakers approved a new bill to combat drug-related crime, with some of France's most dangerous drug traffickers facing being locked up in high-security units in prison in the coming months.
The high-security units are designed to limit the capacity to continue their criminal activity behind bars, but lawyers have raised concerns about defendants' rights.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
France demands explanations from Vueling after French Jewish teenagers were removed from flight
France's foreign minister has called the CEO of Spanish airline Vueling to demand an "explanation" after around 50 French teenagers, all Jewish, were removed from a flight this week, Paris said on Saturday, July 26. During an incident on Wednesday, the Spanish airline said it had asked the adolescents to leave the plane in the Spanish city of Valencia due to their "disruptive behavior." But parents condemned what some described as an "antisemitic act" and alleged that the teenagers were forced off the plane after one of them had sung a song in Hebrew. On Friday, Vueling maintained that its decision was made "solely for safety reasons" because the teens were tampering with life jackets, oxygen masks and oxygen cylinders. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot called Vueling CEO Carolina Martinoli the same day "to express his deep concern about the removal of a group of young French Jews from one of the company's planes," the Foreign Ministry said. "An explanation has been requested, in particular to determine whether these French nationals had been subjected to discrimination on the grounds of their religion." The ministry added that "the same request was made to the Spanish ambassador to France (...) Ms Carolina Martinoli assured him that a thorough internal investigation was underway and that the findings would be shared with the French and Spanish authorities." The Club Kineret association, which organized the summer camp, announced on Thursday to Agence France-Presse (AFP) its intention to file a complaint against the carrier "for physical and psychological violence and discrimination on the basis of religion," through its lawyer, Julie Jacob. She cited "aggravating circumstances," as some of the children were "under 15 years of age."
Local France
a day ago
- Local France
France's top court annuls arrest warrant against Syria's Assad
The Court of Cassation ruled there were no exceptions to presidential immunity, even for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. But its presiding judge, Christophe Soulard, added that, as Assad was no longer president after an Islamist-led group toppled him in December, "new arrest warrants can have been, or can be, issued against him" and as such the investigation into the case could continue. Human rights advocates had hoped the court would rule that immunity did not apply because of the severity of the allegations, which would have set a major precedent in international law towards holding accused war criminals to account. They said that, in this regard, it was a missed opportunity. "This ruling represents a setback for the global fight against impunity for the most serious crimes under international law," said Mazen Darwish, the head of the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression, a civil party to the case. French authorities issued the warrant against Assad in November 2023 over his alleged role in the chain of command for a sarin gas attack that killed more than 1,000 people, according to US intelligence, on August 4 and 5, 2013 in Adra and Douma outside Damascus. Assad is accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity in the case. Syrian authorities at the time denied involvement and blamed rebels. Universal jurisdiction The French judiciary tackled the case under the principle of universal jurisdiction, whereby a court may prosecute individuals for serious crimes committed in other countries. An investigation -- based on testimonies of survivors and military defectors, as well as photos and video footage -- led to warrants for the arrest of Assad, his brother Maher who headed an elite army unit, and two generals. Advertisement Public prosecutors approved three of the warrants, but issued an appeal against the one targeting Assad, arguing he should have immunity as a head of state. The Paris Court of Appeal in June last year however upheld it, and prosecutors again appealed. But in December, Assad's circumstances changed. He and his family fled to Russia, according to Russian authorities, after Islamist-led fighters seized power from him. In January, French investigating magistrates issued a second arrest warrant against Assad for suspected complicity in war crimes for a bombing in the Syrian city of Deraa in 2017 that killed a French-Syrian civilian. 'Great victory' The Court of Cassation said Assad's so called "personal immunity", granted because of his office, meant he could not be targeted by arrest warrants until his ouster. But it ruled that "functional immunity", which is granted to people who perform certain functions of state, could be lifted in the case of accusations of severe crimes. Thus it upheld the French judiciary's indictment in another case against ex-governor of the Central Bank of Syria and former finance minister, Adib Mayaleh. Advertisement He has been accused of complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity over alleged funding of the Assad government during Syria's civil war. Mayaleh obtained French nationality in 1993, and goes by the name Andre Mayard on his French passport. Darwish, the Syrian lawyer, said that part of the court's ruling was however a "great victory". "It establishes the principle that no agent of a foreign state, regardless of the position they hold, can invoke their immunity when international crimes are at stake," he said. Syria's war has killed more than half a million people and displaced millions from their homes since its eruption in 2011 with the then-government's brutal crackdown on anti-Assad protests. Assad's fall on December 8, 2024 ended his family's five-decade rule.
LeMonde
a day ago
- LeMonde
Bashar al-Assad: France's highest court upholds personal immunity for sitting heads of state
On Friday, July 25, the Cour de Cassation, France's highest court of appeals, decided that the personal immunity granted to sitting heads of state allows for no exceptions. The ruling is a major disappointment for human rights defenders and international law experts fighting against impunity. And as a result, the arrest warrant issued in November 2023 by Parisian investigating judges against former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad, who was accused of ordering chemical attacks in the suburbs of Damascus in 2013, has been annulled. This decision was made just days before the 12 th anniversary of the sarin gas attack on Ghouta, which killed around 1,000 to 1,500 people, including several French-Syrians. This decision effectively prevents French courts from prosecuting sitting heads of state, who, like prime ministers and foreign affairs ministers, enjoy personal immunity. The court did not uphold Prosecutor General Rémy Heitz's suggestion that the arrest warrant for al-Assad be maintained by setting aside his personal immunity, since France had not recognized him as the "legitimate sitting head of state" since 2012, given the "mass crimes committed by the Syrian regime."
