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Infamous French criminal Rédoine Faïd appears in court on Tuesday to be tried for an audacious prison break in 2018, during which he escaped by helicopter.
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His high-security trial begins on Tuesday morning as Paris’s historic Palais de Justice and will continue until October 20, with the 51-year-old accused of hijacking an aircraft and two jail breaks.
Some 11 others suspected of helping Faïd during his escape and subsequent three months on the run will also be tried, including five members of his family.
Escape artist
In July 2018, Faïd broke out of Réau Prison south of Paris with the help of three accomplices who used smoke bombs and angle grinders to make their way into the facility’s visiting room – after first disembarking from a hijacked helicopter that landed in the prison’s courtyard.
The entire operation took just ten minutes: while one accomplice stayed in the helicopter holding a gun to the pilots head, two others threw smoke bombs as they broke into the prison where Faïd was being held.
Witnesses reported seeing the “very serene” prisoner walk “calmly” to the aircraft before it took off.
Police later found the helicopter north of Paris, and arrested Faïd three months later in Creil, his hometown.
The prison escape was Faïd’s second in five years.
In April 2013, he used explosives to blow open gates and took four wardens hostage to escape from Sequedin Prison in northern France.
One of the wardens was…
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