Berliner Tageblatt - French convict freed in murderous ambush is arrested in Romania

Mohamed Amra, accused of being a major drugs gangland figure, had vanished without a trace after an attack with military-grade assault weapons on a prison van carrying him in the northwestern Normandy region.

Three more officers were wounded in the attack that was caught on CCTV and shocked France because of its extraordinary violence.

France tasked more than 300 investigators with finding Amra, and requested an Interpol red notice hoping for foreign assistance.

Amra, reportedly known as "La Mouche" (The Fly), has a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was only 15.

He was also suspected of ordering hits while in prison.

At the time of his escape, Amra was facing two fresh charges, one for attempted murder and another for participation in a gangland killing in the southern city of Marseille, a hub for drug trafficking and gang violence.

But despite the government labelling him "public enemy number one", and the deployment of massive means, Amra vanished.

On Saturday, the government reacted with relief that the chase was over.

"After a manhunt lasting several months, Amra has been arrested, finally!" Prime Minister Francois Bayrou said on X.

President Emmanuel Macron hailed Amra's capture as "a formidable success", saying his thoughts were with the families of the prison officers who died.

Macron said he also wanted "to thank our European colleagues and French investigators who had been hunting Mohamed Amra for months and months".

French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said on X he wanted to "warmly thank Romania for its crucial cooperation".

Romanian police said that Amra had been arrested in Bucharest, and would be brought before a magistrate there.

"Romanian police located, identified and captured him within 48 hours receiving the information that he was on our territory," Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu said in a statement.

At the time of the ambush, Amra was being transferred from his prison cell to the office of an investigating magistrate for questioning.

The manner of the attack, involving an armoured vehicle as well as the high-powered guns, highlighted the extreme levels of violence deployed by what police said is a new generation of drug dealers.

The attack marked the first deaths of French prison officers in the line of duty since 1992.

When police came up empty-handed after several months of searching for Amra, investigating magistrates following the case had begun to voice their frustration.

"I hope that he's abroad," said one magistrate in November, after six months of no success. "Otherwise we're really doing a bad job."

For a while, the theory that Amra had not actually escaped but been abducted by rivals got some traction in an attempt to explain why he still had not been caught.

burs-jh/gv

R.Adler--BTB