Mohamed Amra, the 30-year-old inmate
freed by the heavily armed gang, was supposed to be under very close supervision
because of his long criminal record.
According
to the French judicial authorities, he had been found guilty of theft – and was
serving an 18-month jail sentence – but was also facing new charges connected to
kidnapping and a drug-related killing in the southern port city of Marseille.
He was being escorted to a court house related to those new charges when the ambush happened. French media reports claim he’s considered to be a
powerful drug baron.
Amra’s bloody escape comes the same day as the French Senate unveiled a highly
alarming report on the spread of the illegal drug trade across the country, and
called for urgent new measures to tackle the problem.
The
senate commission’s report said the narcotics business was spreading to small
towns and the countryside, triggering violent turf wars between gangs in
territories that until now had been considered unscathed.
Just
yesterday Nicolas Bessone, the prosecutor for the Marseille region, admitted on
the main French television news programme France 2 that drug gangs had become
so powerful and wealthy they were managing to infiltrate and corrupt civil
servants within the court system in the city of Marseille.
Last
year around 50 people were killed in drug related shootings in the city. The senate commission’s report said many of the French drug gang leaders are
untouchable, running their ruthless business abroad – mainly from North Africa and
and the Middle East.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
