Thief flees French jail by helicopter

A notorious career thief who was once France's most-wanted man pulled off a daring jailbreak yesterday, fleeing a prison in the Paris area by helicopter, officials said.

Redoine Faid, 46, broke out of the prison in Reau in the city's southeastern suburbs within minutes, helped by a number of heavily-armed men, sources close to the case said.

The escape came after an appeals court sentenced him to 25 years for masterminding a May 2010 botched armed robbery, in which a policewoman was killed.

Faid fled yesterday with three accomplices, according to the sources.

The helicopter was later found in a northeastern suburb of the French capital, they said, adding that a police search has been launched across the entire Paris region. It is the second time Faid has pulled off a spectacular jailbreak -- in 2013, he blasted his way out of a prison in northern France using dynamite.

He had been in prison since mid-2011 for breaking the terms of his parole over past convictions for bank robberies and brazen heists of cash-in-transit vehicles.