Frenchman wanted for fatal prison break arrested in Phuket
Phuket police officers yesterday arrested a Frenchman wanted for aiding a prisoner’s escape and killing prison guards in France last year.
The BBC reported last year that the French prisoner, 30 year old Mohamed Amra, also known as “The Fly,” managed to escape from custody while being transported back to prison after attending a court hearing. Amra had been arrested on burglary charges in May and was found to have connections with a drug gang in Marseille.
Gunmen ambushed the prison transport vehicle, attacking the guards to facilitate Amra’s escape. The incident resulted in the deaths of two prison guards, while two others were seriously injured. The inmate and his accomplices successfully fled the scene.
Recently, the French Embassy in Thailand alerted the Immigration Bureau that one of the suspects involved in the deadly prison break was hiding in Phuket. The suspect, identified as 24 year old Adonis, was subsequently located.
Following further investigations, officers arrested Adonis yesterday, March 26. The suspect reportedly confessed to participating in the fatal attack on the prison guards during Amra’s escape.
Police have not clarified how the wanted French suspect managed to enter Thailand, nor have they provided details of further legal proceedings to the public.
If the French national has not violated any Thai laws, he is expected to be extradited to France to face punishment for his crimes.
Last month, four foreign nationals were arrested in Phuket after fleeing Switzerland, where they were wanted for cybercrimes.
The group had allegedly operated a malware scam, defrauding over US$16 million (approximately 560 million baht) from more than 1,000 victims.
The four hackers reportedly used ransomware to access victims’ personal data and demanded a ransom in exchange for safeguarding the information.
They successfully evaded arrest for an extended period by conducting most of their financial transactions in cryptocurrency.
In October last year, two more foreign criminals, Swedish nationals, were arrested in Pattaya for running a call centre scam that caused more than 50 million baht in damage in Sweden. They fled the arrests and went into hiding in Pattaya. They were also found to have overstayed their visas.
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