Sawed bars, waiting at the toll booth and burned cars… What the first elements of the investigation into the attack on a prison van in Eure reveal

Nicknamed the “Fly”, Mohammed Amra is at the heart of the investigation. If he was not a particularly scrutinized inmate, his level of supervision had just been re-evaluated.

After the shock, the explanations. Or at least the search for explanations. After the attack on a prison van at the Incarville tollbooth (Eure) on the A154, which left two prison officers dead and three injured, Tuesday May 14, investigators are trying to retrace the course of events . At the heart of the investigation: Mohamed Amra, the 30-year-old inmate still on the run.

If the police hunt began, the investigators were able to begin to get an idea of ​​this murderous ambush. As soon as the attack occurred, the specialized national jurisdiction for the fight against organized crime (Junalco) of the Paris public prosecutor’s office took over the investigation, and its magistrates went to the site. The Paris prosecutor’s office also contacted the Central Office for the Fight against Organized Crime (OCLCO) and the Rouen judicial police. The investigation concerns the offenses of murder, attempted murder by an organized gang, escape by an organized gang, acquisition and possession of weapons of war, criminal association with a view to the commission of a crime.

Thanks to testimonies collected at the Ircanville tollbooth between Rouen and Evreux, and also thanks to videos, investigators discovered the unfolding of this extraordinary attack. One of the videos shows the entire sequence, which lasts almost three minutes: around 11 a.m. at the toll, we see the convoy from the prison slowly crossing the toll barrier. Barely past, the van and the car with the administration logo find themselves facing a black Peugeot, which is coming in the opposite direction. The vehicle collides with the van in which detainee Mohamed Amra is located.

According to the first elements of the investigation, this black car had been there for a few minutes and was waiting for the convoy. Then two men in dark outfits, armed and hooded, emerge, while other criminals emerge from behind. According to our information, they are equipped with bulletproof vests and Kalashnikov-type assault rifles. What the video does not show is that a second car, behind, allowed the commando to take the convoy in a “sandwich”. It is at this precise moment that one or two prison officers are then executed, analyzes an expert on the case, interviewed by franceinfo. Agents visibly responded without knowing if they injured one of the criminals, who left with the detainee.

There remain gray areas, to begin the motivation of this bloody attack. At this point, no one can say exactly how many men comprised this attacking team. Even the investigators are uncertain, faced with contradictory testimonies. But they are convinced: this escape was particularly prepared by a very well-informed team. If the hunt is no longer concentrated only in Normandy, since the attack investigators have been looking at vehicles abandoned by the commando.

“Two vehicles were found burned near the towns of Houtteville and Gauville-la-Campagne“in the Eure, said Tuesday evening during a press conference the public prosecutor of Paris, Laure Beccuau. “The perpetrators also apparently tried to set fire to the vehicle abandoned at the toll gate” etche vehicles are currently subject to all necessary samples and research“, added Laure Beccuau. These two burned German sedans are being scrutinized by the scientific police, in addition to the investigation, to try to identify the route of the commando and its possible hideouts.

During the day of Tuesday, all police officers in France received the search card for Mohamed Amra, alias “The Fly”. If he is not considered at the high end of the spectrum of banditry, he is presented as someone violent. “We suspected he was capable of anything“, summarizes a police officer, interviewed by franceinfo. With 13 convictions and indictments in murder cases – one of which may have been ordered from his cell – this Rouen trafficker was detained for attempted murder, according to a source close to the file. Another element which intrigues the investigators: according to consistent sources, the inmate had attempted to saw the bars of his cell on Monday. He was then spotted and sent to the disciplinary unit.

The “Fly” has just been sentenced to 18 months in prison at the beginning of May by the Evreux criminal court for aggravated theft. He is also indicted in Marseille for kidnapping and sequestration leading to death in a drug delivery case between the Marseille city and Normandy. According to the chancellery, the detainee was imprisoned at the Evreux remand center and was being extracted to go to the Rouen judicial court. Contrary to what was initially indicated by the Paris prosecutor’s office, this man was not classified as a particularly notable detainee (DPS), according to the prison administration. He was classified as “escort 3”, according to the same source, which means five agents including an officer.

One of the two dead agents”leaves a wife and two children who were due to celebrate their 21st birthday in two days, the other leaves a woman five months pregnant“, lamented Eric Dupond-Moretti, the Minister of Justice during a quick press briefing in Paris. Before promising that the criminals will be “arrested, judged and punished commensurate with the crime they committed“.