This is the terrifying moment masked gunmen ambushed a prison van at a French tollbooth before shooting dead two guards and freeing a “drug boss” nicknamed “The Fly” before fleeing on foot.
The prison van was attacked after 11am on the A154 motorway, near the Incarville tollbooth, located in the town of Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, northern France.
At least two French guards died and two others were injured after the attack in which the attackers and the detained Mohammed Amra, 30, managed to escape from the scene.
The inmate, supposedly nicknamed ‘La Mouche’ (The Fly), was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy before the bloodbath unfolded.
Amra’s last conviction was for robbery and she also has a previous conviction for attempted murder.
Two prison officers were shot dead after four gunmen ambushed their vehicle at the Incarville tollbooth in the town of Val-de-Reuil, Normandy, northern France.
In the attack, the attackers and the detained ‘narco boss’, Mohammed Amra, 30, managed to escape from the scene.
The inmate, Mohammed Amra, supposedly nicknamed ‘La Mouche’ (The Fly), was being transported between the cities of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy before the bloodbath unfolded.
Police officers gather this morning at the site of the deadly attack in Normandy
A police source said Le Parisian that he was “the head of a narcotics network” in France and was therefore considered enormously dangerous.
The French publication also reported that Mohammed had attempted to escape from his cell just two days before Tuesday’s escape.
He had apparently been placed in solitary confinement and his surveillance level was raised to “Escort 3.”
Amra, who had a total of 13 convictions to his name, was under “special surveillance” but was not considered radicalized or suspected of terrorism, said Éric Dupond-Moretti, France’s justice minister.
At the time of the attack, Amra was on her way from Évreux prison to the court for an investigative hearing that would have been made public. This would have made the route relatively easy to plot.
Prosecutors from the National Jurisdiction to Fight Organized Crime (JUNALCO) opened an investigation for ‘homicide and attempted murder committed by an organized gang’, crimes punishable by life imprisonment.
Also investigated are ‘escape in an organized gang’, ‘acquisition and possession of weapons of war’ and ‘criminal association with a view to committing a crime’, Moretti stated.
Laure Beccuau, Paris prosecutor, confirmed that Amera had previously been charged by the Specialized Interregional Jurisdiction (JIRS) of Marseille with “kidnapping and kidnapping resulting in death.”
The two murdered guards were identified as agents of the Regional Center for Judicial Extractions (PREJ), based in Caen, without their names being revealed.
One was a 21-year-old man, father of two, who leaves a widow, and the other, a future father whose wife was five months pregnant.
Moretti said that all the wounded guards were in “life-threatening” condition.
He added: “All my thoughts are with the victims, their families and their colleagues.”
At first, the prisoner and the gang members escaped in two cars: an Audi A5 and a BMW 5 Series.
According to local reports, the white Audi A5 was found on fire in nearby Vatteville, Eure.
Amra was being transported between the cities of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy before the bloodbath broke out at the Incarville tollbooth.
A forensic team is working at the scene of a late morning ramming attack at a tollbooth in Incarville, in the Eure region of northern France.
The emergency services went to the tollbooth this morning after the ambush in which two French agents died.
A fire truck also arrived at the scene.
A local police source said: “The ambush occurred at the Incarville tollbooth on the A154 road. Kalashnikovs are believed to have been used.
‘Three prison officers are believed to be dead and three others are seriously injured.
“A detainee known for cases related to drug trafficking escaped with a gang made up of about four men.”
Alexandre Rassaërt, president of the Eure departmental council, which covers Vale-de-Reuil, said: “I froze with horror when I heard about the real carnage that took place at the Incarville tollbooth.
“I sincerely hope that the gang of murderers who carried out this bloody attack will be quickly arrested.
‘All my thoughts are with the families of the service officers. penitentiary that escorted the detainees and who were killed or seriously injured during this attack that gave them no chance.
“I also think of all the prison administration guards who, every day, take care of the prisoners, putting their lives at risk.”
French President Emmanuel Macron also spoke out after the horrific van attack.
“This morning’s attack, which cost the lives of prison administration agents, is a shock for all of us,” he wrote in X.
“The Nation stands with the families, the injured and their colleagues,” continues Emmanuel Macron.
‘Everything possible is being done to find the perpetrators of this crime and to bring justice in the name of the French people. We will be intractable.’
After the ambush, police closed the road for an “indefinite period,” Bison Futé reported.
Footage posted online showed emergency services gathering at the tollbooth this morning.
A fire truck was also filmed stopping a few meters from the chaotic scene.
The Minister of the Interior, Gérald Darmanin, announced on the 10th that a plan had been launched to locate the fugitives.
‘All means are being used to find these criminals. Following my instructions, several hundred police and gendarmes were mobilized,” he stated.
Vendée Deputy Mayor Véronique Besse took to X, formerly Twitter, to express her “shock” at the incident.
“I am deeply shocked and saddened by the scene of war against a prison administration convoy in #Incarville, which cost the lives of several agents,” she wrote.
‘Every day, unspeakable acts of barbarism hit our country in the face of the great indifference of our leaders. I send my deepest condolences to the affected families and loved ones.’