SYLVIE CORBET
Paris, FranceAnotorious French criminal serving 25 years for murder made an audacious escape from prison Sunday after several heavily armed men landed a helicopter in a courtyard, freed him from a visiting room and carried him away. It was the second daring escape by Redoine Faid, who once blasted his way out of a different prison with explosives hidden in tissue packs.

His latest escape, from Reau Prison, took only “a few minutes,” France’s Justice Ministry said. Unarmed guards said they could do nothing to prevent it. Dressed all in black, two men wearing balaclavas and police armbands got off the chopper and entered the prison to look for Faid.

They used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room, Martial Delabroye, a representative of the guards’ union, told BFM television.

The men set off smoke canisters to hide from video cameras, and the helicopter touched down in the only part of the complex that was not covered by antihelicopter netting, said another union member, Loic Delbroc.

When the chopper arrived, Faid was meeting with his brother in the visiting room. A third man was holding the pilot at gunpoint, union members said.