A search is underway in northern France for armed assailants who killed two prison officers and wounded three others in an ambush on a prison van, freeing a 30-year-old inmate and drug dealer known as "The Fly." The incident marks the first time on-duty prison workers have been killed in France since 1992.
The prison van was transporting inmate Mohamed Amra from a courthouse to a jail in the Normandy region when the hooded assailants—arriving in two vehicles—rammed into the van near an expressway toll booth and opened fire. Amra was serving an 18-month prison sentence for aggravated robbery. He also faces charges of kidnapping and drug-related homicide in the southern port city of Marseille. The number of assailants is unclear; the fugitives remain at large as of this writing.
The ambush came the same day a French Senate committee report found drug-related crimes are spreading across France, igniting gang wars. In March, anti-drug trafficking operations were launched in 10 cities, including France's second-largest city of Marseille, considered a hub for drug-related crimes.
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