Europe’s most wanted fugitive ‘The Fly’ tried to SAW prison bars days before guards ‘slaughtered like dogs’ in ambush

FUGITIVE Mohamed Amra, dubbed “The Fly”, tried to saw his way free from jail just days before escaping in a deadly police ambush.

The “highly dangerous” inmate was freed by four gunmen who stormed the cop convoy and slaughtered two officers “like dogs”.

AFP

Mohamed Amra, 30, was sprung free by four armed gunmen in a shocking police ambush yesterday[/caption]

A spray of bullet holes in the windshield of a police van at the scene of the attack this morning

Forensic cops at the scene of the ambush this morning

Officers try to help a colleague possibly shot down in the ambushTwitter

Evreux jail, where Amra was imprisoned when he tried to saw his way freeGoogle

Shocking video showed the moment the attackers closed in from all sides as Amra was being moved yesterday in northern France.

Two prison officers were killed during the onslaught and three more left injured, with two in critical condition and one fighting for his life.

French justice minister Eric Dupond Moretti said the officers, both from Caen, were “slaughtered like dogs by men for whom life means nothing”.

Only days before the career criminal had attempted to make his own escape by sawing open the bars of his jail cell.

Amra was caught and banged up in solitary confinement after the failed bid for freedom.

His own lawyer Hugues Vigier revealed the jailbreak attempt and said he was shocked by the “inexcusable” and “insane” violence during the attack.

Vigier added “this element suggests that there was an escape attempt in preparation.”

Amra, 30, has a rap sheet of thirteen convictions and currently faces counts of both murder and attempted murder.

Now Europe’s most wanted criminal, he was last week jailed for 18 months on burglary charges.

Dubbed “The Fly” because “he is everywhere”, Amra is known to cops for allegedly ordering a mafia style execution in Marseille in 2022.

A police source said he has ties to Marseille’s notorious “Blacks” gang.

Marseille has been set apart from organised crime in other French cities over reports of widespread AK 47 use.

Cops yesterday said they believed the armed gunmen at the scene were in possession of the same weapon, although this has yet to be confirmed.

Over 200 cops, a Swat team and a helicopter rushed to the scene yesterday after the professionally executed escape.

The masked gunmen creep out from under the tollbooth and swarm in on the vans

Someone who appears to be the prisoner (centre) jumps from a vehicle

NATIONWIDE HUNT

French interior minister Gerald Darmanin confirmed an enormous manhunt has been launched to track down the escaped dealer and his accomplices.

Several hundred cops are involved in the search and Interpol has even issued a red notice.

President Emmanuel Macron echoed comments made yesterday and vowed that everything would be done to track them down.

Justice minister Eric Dupond Moretti raged: “Absolutely everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime.

“These are people for whom life means nothing.

“They will be arrested, judged and punished according to the crime they committed.”

The police commander of Eure has activated a “plan Epervier”, or Sparrowhawk plan to catch them, which puts all levels of officials on high alert.

It was last used during the search for notorious gangster and jailbreaker Redoine Faid in 2018 and in 2015 following the Charlie Hebdo attacks.

One of the officers killed in the onslaught was a married dad-of-two, aged just 21.

The other officer’s wife is five months pregnant.

Amra’s lawyer Vigier told french outlet BFMTV that the shocking ambush “does not correspond to the impression that I had of him [Amra]”.

His alleged victim in the 2022 Marseille execution was found charred with a bullet to the head in a burnt-out vehicle.

HOW THE AMBUSH UNFOLDED

Amra was travelling in a convoy of two police vehicles yesterday when he was sprung free.

The convict had just appeared at a hearing in Rouen court and was being taken back to his prison in Evreux.

He was reportedly under special supervision at the time of the attack.

His guards pulled up at a motorway tollbooth in Incarville, roughly halfway between the two jails on the A154 road in Normandy.

They were attacked around 11am.

Footage captured at the scene showed a black SUV smashing headfirst into the first police vehicle, crushing the three motors into a line.

The four gunmen then emerge from around the crash, clad head to toe in black complete with gloves and hoods.

Spraying the convoy with bullets, they spring free Amra before setting off an explosion inside the black car.

One of the attackers is believed to have been wounded in the gunfire exchange with officers.

Video shows them leaving the scene which they did in two getaway cars, a white Audi A5 and a BMW 5 series.

Both were later found burnt out – the Audi in Vatteville and the BMW near a hospital in Evreux.

A black SUV rammed into the police convoy before the gunmen pouncedTwitter

One of the shooters brandishes a huge rifle at the scene of the attackTwitter