Massive manhunt underway after prison officers killed and inmate freed in ambush

Two prison officers are dead and an inmate freed after a prison van ambush in France, with wild footage of the escape emerging.

A group of gunmen attacked a prison van, killed two prison officers and freed an inmate linked to gangland drug killings in France, with film-like footage of the attack emerging.

The officers were killed and three others wounded when the group of men ambushed the van late on Tuesday morning at a road toll in Incarville, in Normandy, northern France, said Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau.

The inmate, Mohamed Amra – nicknamed ‘The Fly’ – was being transported after being questioned by a judge in the regional centre of Rouen in Normandy back to his prison in the town of Evreux.

The prosecutor said the prison van was rammed head-on by a stolen Peugeot vehicle as it went through the toll crossing.

But the prison vehicle was also followed by an Audi from which gunmen emerged who shot at both vehicles in the prison convoy

The prison van was ambushed at a road toll in Normandy. Picture: GBN

The prison van was rammed head-on by a stolen Peugeot vehicle. Picture: GBN

President Emmanuel Macron vowed everything would be done to find those behind the attack, with the inmate also still at large as well as those who helped him escape.

“Every effort is being made to find the perpetrators of this crime so that justice can be done in the name of the French people,” Mr Macron wrote on X.

“We will be uncompromising,” he added, describing the attack as a “shock”.

Footage of the attack taken by surveillance cameras at the toll shows a car colliding head on with the prison van.

In the video, the doors of the car are flung open and several gunmen dressed in black emerge. A firefight ensues and one individual appears to be guided away from the van by the gunmen.

Another video, filmed by a passenger on a nearby bus, shared by GBN News, shows men with guns approaching the prison van.

Footage shows men with guns approaching the prison van. Picture: GBN

Mohamed Amra escaped from the prison van. Picture: AFP

A vehicle believed to have been used by the attackers was later found as a burnt-out wreck at a different location.

The prison convoy had no police escort, according to a source close to the case, AFP reports.

Hundreds of police mobilised

Hundreds of police and gendarmes have been mobilised to take part in the search, according to Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin.

The prison officers who died, both men, were the first to be killed in the line of duty since 1992, he added.

One of them was married and had two children while the other “left a wife who is five months pregnant”, he said.

Prison officer unions announced a day of minimum service on Wednesday and asked for urgent measures to improve the safety of staff.

“These are people for whom life counts for nothing. They will be arrested, they will be judged and they will be punished according to the crime they committed,” said Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti.

A forensic is at work at the site of a ramming attack. Picture: AFP

‘The Fly’

Prosecutor Beccuau named the inmate as Mohamed Amra, born in 1994, saying that last week he had been convicted of aggravated robbery and charged in a case of abduction leading to death.

The case has been handed to prosecutors from France’s office for the fight against organised crime, known by their acronym JUNALCO.

But a source close to the case said Mr Amra was suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and of ordering gangland killings.

Another source said he is suspected of being at the head of a network.

Some media said he had the nickname “La Mouche” (the fly).

Police officers load of a burnt-out escape car that had been used during the ramming attack. Picture: Alain Jocard/AFP

His lawyer Hugues Vigier said Mr Amra had already made an escape attempt at the weekend by sawing the bars of his cell and said he was shocked by the “inexcusable” and “insane” violence.

“This does not correspond to the impression that I had of him,” the lawyer told BFMTV.

The incident came on the same day as the French Senate published a damning report warning that government measures had been unable to prevent the flourishing of the narcotics industry in France.

Committee chairman Jerome Durain said France was “not yet a narcostate” but drug trafficking nonetheless constituted “a direct threat to the national interest” and the government’s anti-drugs measures were “not up to the challenge.”

Law and order is a major issue in French politics ahead of next month’s European elections.