A French fugitive known as 'The Fly' who was freed in a deadly prison van ambush fled to Romania for plastic surgery and was planning to start a new life in Colombia when he was finally caught by police, officials have revealed.
Mohamed Amra was labelled France 's 'public enemy number one' after two guards were shot dead by masked gunmen during the military-style ambush last May.
The suspected drug kingpin's escape sparking an international manhunt. He fled the country and disguised himself by dying his hair red and wearing glasses, but police were able to identify and arrest him in a sting near a shopping centre in Bucharest on Saturday. The year-old's identity was confirmed by facial recognition and the comparison of fingerprints, the Paris prosecutor said following the joint operation with the Romanian authorities. Amra grinned as he was hauled to and from court in Bucharest by heavily armed guards yesterday, and even brazenly joked with journalists that he was 'on holiday' in Romania rather than on the run.
Dominique Garcia, the father of one of the two prison officers who was killed during Amra's escape, responded to the footage by slamming the criminal's 'full of himself' attitude. Arnaud Garcia's father told RMC that Amra's arrest is 'a relief' and that he was 'happy' that 'no one was hurt on the police side' as they were in the bloody prison convoy attack, adding: 'Amra is not human.
Romanian Interior Minister Catalin Predoiu told France 2 last night that Amra had 'wanted to have cosmetic surgery ' in Romania, and intended to 'leave the country for Colombia. Mohamed Amra grinned as he was hauled to and from court in Bucharest by heavily armed guards today. Amra, nicknamed 'La Mouche' The Fly , was being transported between the towns of Rouen and Evreux in Normandy before the bloodbath unfolded. The year-old disguised himself by dying his hair red and wearing glasses, but police were able to identify and arrest him in a sting near a shopping centre.
