Mohamed Amra: manhunt underway for escaped French prisoner 'The Fly'
Two prison officers killed in a 'brutal daylight raid' at a Normandy tollbooth

French President Emmanuel Macron has vowed to do everything possible to find the perpetrators of an attack on a prison van that killed two prison officers and freed an inmate.
Stills from CCTV footage revealed the "violence that was unleashed" at a tollbooth in Normandy yesterday morning, said Le Monde. Mohamed Amra, nicknamed "La Mouche" ("The Fly"), was being transferred from prison to court in a white van when it was hit "head-on" by a black Peugeot. Four men "dressed in black, wearing balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons" shot dead two officers and freed Amra.
Only two days before the "brutal daylight raid", he had been caught "trying to saw through the bars of his prison cell", said The Telegraph. He was sent to a disciplinary unit and his surveillance level was increased.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Amra had 13 convictions for several minor offences, but the French press have called him a "high-flying bandit", who is reportedly involved in international drug trafficking. He is also suspected of being behind an assassination attempt on a French man in Spain last year.
Hundreds of police and gendarmes have been mobilised to take part in the search. Prison officer unions announced a day of minimum service today and asked for urgent measures to improve the safety of staff.
The two dead officers are said to be a 21-year-old who left behind a wife and two children, and another man whose wife was five months pregnant. Three other guards were seriously injured and are said to be in a life-threatening condition.
The ambush has "stunned the country with its brazenness", said Roger Cohen, reporting from Paris, for The New York Times. "At a time when France is trying hard to project an image of law and order ahead of the Olympic Games, the images of violence on the main highway from Paris to Normandy were a blow."
Writing on X, Macron said the attack was a "shock to us all" and pledged an "uncompromising" response.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Arion McNicoll is a freelance writer at The Week Digital and was previously the UK website’s editor. He has also held senior editorial roles at CNN, The Times and The Sunday Times. Along with his writing work, he co-hosts “Today in History with The Retrospectors”, Rethink Audio’s flagship daily podcast, and is a regular panellist (and occasional stand-in host) on “The Week Unwrapped”. He is also a judge for The Publisher Podcast Awards.
-
Japan's surname conundrum
Under the Radar Law requiring couples to share one surname hinders women in the workplace and lowers birth rate, campaigners claim
-
How successful would Elon Musk's third party be?
Today's Big Question Musk has vowed to start a third party after falling out with Trump
-
Music reviews: Bruce Springsteen and Benson Boone
Feature "Tracks II: The Lost Albums" and "American Heart"
-
The mystery of France's 'needle attacks' on women
In the Spotlight Nearly 150 women reported being spiked with needles at France's open-air music festival
-
7 charged in LA for 'largest jewelry heist in US history'
Speed Read The purported thieves stole an estimated $100 million worth of items
-
France's 'reckoning' over largest-ever child sex abuse trial
The Explainer Joël Le Scouarnec case is latest in a series of high-profile scandals to have prompted 'deep soul searching'
-
Gisèle Pelicot: the case that horrified France
The Explainer Survivor has been praised for demanding a public trial of the dozens of men accused of raping her
-
Texas set to execute dad in disputed 'shaken baby' case
Speed Read Robert Roberson's hotly contested execution would be the first ever tied to shaken baby syndrome
-
Missouri executes man despite DA's objection
Speed Read Marcellus Williams maintained his innocence and the killing was opposed by the victim's family
-
FBI: US violent crime falls again, hits pre-Covid levels
Speed Read A wide-ranging report found that violent crime dropped 3% in the last year, while murder dropped 11.6%
-
Sean 'Diddy' Combs arrested on federal charges
Speed Read The hip-hop star was hit with sex trafficking and racketeering charges