Two prison officers were killed and three others seriously injured on Tuesday at a motorway tollbooth in north-west France in the attack on their van transporting a detainee, a rare event which caused turmoil at the top of the State .
“This morning’s attack, which cost the lives of prison officers, is a shock to us all. We will be intractable,” reacted French President Emmanuel Macron on X.
The Minister of Justice, Éric Dupond-Moretti, who went to Caen at the end of the day to meet colleagues and the families of the victims, described this attack as an “absolute tragedy”.
The agents were “shot like dogs,” he said, “by men for whom life is worth nothing.”
The attack caused deep emotion in the prison community. The Prison Administration inter-union called on Tuesday evening for a “blockade” of prisons this Wednesday. She will be received in the afternoon by the Minister of Justice.
Commando
The attack took place shortly after 11 a.m. (local time) at the Incarville motorway tollbooth, when the detainee was being transferred from the Rouen judicial court to Évreux prison.
The Minister of Justice said it was the first time since 1992 that a prison officer had been killed in the line of duty.
The prison convoy did not have a police or gendarmerie escort, according to a source close to the case.
Escorts are mainly reserved for prisoners who are particularly monitored. However, this was not the case for the detainee now on the run.
According to a police source, the attack was carried out by a commando of several criminals who used two vehicles. One of these vehicles was found “charred” shortly after the incident, we learned from a source close to the investigation.
Immediately, the Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, launched the “Épervier plan” for several hours, notably mobilizing 200 gendarmes, a helicopter and a specialized intervention team to participate in the hunt for the escapee and his accomplices. .
“They will pay”
“We will spare no effort, no means. We will hunt them down. We will find them. And I tell you, they will pay,” said Prime Minister Gabriel Attal to the National Assembly, which observed a minute of silence.
The fugitive detainee, Mohamed Amra, is 30 years old. He was convicted on May 10 for “a burglary” by a court in Évreux and he was indicted by a court in Marseille for “kidnapping and sequestration resulting in death,” said the Paris prosecutor in a statement.
According to a source close to the case, Mohamed Amra, involved in drug trafficking, is suspected of having ordered murders linked to this trafficking. He is the head of a network, according to another source close to the matter.