Latest news with #KobaLaD
Arab News
14-05-2025
- Arab News
How escaped French drug kingpin evaded capture for months
His escape left two prison officers dead and triggered a massive manhunt for the escaped convict dubbed 'la Mouche'A network of accomplices suspected of organizing the escape, including a childhood friend of Amra and rapper Koba LaD, allegedly helped the fugitive stay off the authorities' radarPARIS: Managing to stay 'one step ahead' of investigators, drug trafficker Mohamed Amra evaded capture for nine months following a deadly jail break one year ago that shocked escape left two prison officers dead and triggered a massive manhunt for the escaped convict dubbed 'la Mouche' (The Fly).On the run for nine months, he was re-arrested only in February, near a shopping center in Romania's capital, Bucharest, then extradited to the one-year anniversary of the attack, French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday paid tribute to the first prison officers killed in France in the line of duty since 1992, visiting the site of the attack and highlighting new measures in France's push to combat organized May 14, 2024, a car crashed head-on into a prison van at a toll booth in France's northern Normandy later, a second car pulled up and four armed men jumped out, killing prison officers Arnaud Garcia and Fabrice Moello and leaving three others the time of the deadly ambush, Amra already had a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was only the assailants whisked the 30-year-old Normandy native into a waiting vehicle, French authorities launched a massive operation to track down the man described as 'public enemy number one.'But a source close to the case said Amra was 'always one step ahead.'Public prosecutor Laure Beccuau confirmed that the Frenchman had been holed up in the city of Compiegne, then headed further north to Rouen before eventually making his way to eastern Europe.A network of accomplices suspected of organizing the escape, including a childhood friend of Amra and rapper Koba LaD, allegedly helped the fugitive stay off the authorities' so, 'the net gradually closed in,' said Beccuau, with the escapee arrested by Romanian authorities nine months after his then intensified the search for those who aided him in his escape from France to the eastern European country, arresting more than three dozen alleged those arrested are the six suspected attackers in the May 2024 assault found as far afield as Thailand, Morocco and Spain — one of whom died in an accident in a lawyer for one of the accused said there are 'real doubts' about their involvement, with some 'categorically denying the charges.'As for Amra, his lawyer said, 'no one can claim to know his role.''The fact that he benefited from the escape doesn't necessarily mean he planned it or knew what methods would be used,' said Lucas accompanied by Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau and Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin, visited several sites on Wednesday underlining the country's push to clamp down on drug trafficking, including the headquarters of a new anti-organized crime taskforce, EMCO and the site of the May 2024 late April, lawmakers approved a major new bill to combat drug-related crime, with some of France's most dangerous drug traffickers facing being locked up in high-security units in prison in the coming was suspected of ordering hits from prison, including in the months leading up to his breakout, when a close associate issued a warning that 'the Fly' was giving someone called 'A' a week to pay up, or else.A high-security prison in the northern Pas-de-Calais region is expected to house the 100 most dangerous drug traffickers beginning in late these measures, 'the Republic is now putting all its resources' into ensuring that an escape like that of Mohamed Amra 'never happens again,' Darmanin said on Tuesday on broadcaster France 2.A plaque was also unveiled, honoring the two prison officers.
Yahoo
24-03-2025
- Yahoo
Police question French rapper over drug baron's prison break
Police interrogated on Monday well-known French rapper Koba LaD over the deadly escape from prison of a suspected drugs boss last year, sources told AFP. Koba LaD was among 24 people who were detained and questioned on Monday as part of a widening French police inquiry into the shocking escape of Mohamed Amra in May 2024. Amra was sprung from a prison van at a motorway toll when masked gunmen armed with automatic weapons killed two prison guards and injured three others in scenes that stunned the country. French police have been trying to understand the link between Amra and a suspected criminal gang called the "Black Manjak Family". Koba LaD, who grew up in a deprived Parisian suburb and has a long criminal record, regularly features the letters "BMF" in his videos and songs. The 24-year-old, whose real name is Marcel Junior Loutarila, has around three million followers on Instagram and was scheduled to perform at the 9,000-capacity Adidas Arena in Paris next week. He was already in jail awaiting trial over a deadly road accident last year, but he was removed from his cell and questioned over the Amra case, two sources told AFP. Paris prosecutors did not confirm the detention and Koba LaD's lawyer declined to comment when contacted by AFP. There have been four waves of arrests over Amra's deadly prison break, which served to highlight the spread of extreme violence linked to the drugs trade in France. Amra was arrested near a shopping centre in Bucharest in February after months on the run, during which the French government labelled him "public enemy number one". tll-jpa/adp/sjw/sbk
