GQ magazine has a profile of Rédoine Faïd a French criminal and prison escapee who was inspired by crime movies.
A notorious thief—the architect of a flurry of dazzling heists and blockbuster robberies in the 1990s that targeted banks, jewelry stores, and armored cars—Faïd became more infamous still in 2013, when he blasted out of the Sequedin prison, near Lille, where he'd been serving time after a botched robbery, using smuggled explosives.
Two accomplices used ladders, a van and automatic weapons fire to get Poparic and another prisoner out of the prison near the French border, Thursday, the BBC reported.
West Mercia Police said three balaclava wearing men carrying sledgehammers, smashed the windscreen and driver's window of the prison escort van.
The breakout had been planned for Tuesday, a day before the detainee, whose name was given as Giulio B., was due to appear in court on charges of drug trafficking.
Three helpers had set up a camouflaged observation tent on a promontory 600 metres away from the prison, and spent months monitoring jail workers' movements with high-powered, wide-angle binoculars. They had electronic motion sensors to warn of people approaching.
