Manhunt Over for Two French Prison Escapees

PARIS, Feb. 17, 2009 — -- The nationwide manhunt for two prisoners who blasted their way out of a high-security prison Sunday in central France is over. The police apprehended the two convicted criminals early this morning outside Paris.

Christophe Khider, 37, and Omar Top El Hadj, 30, were arrested near Créteil, a suburb of Paris, following a car chase and a gunfire exchange with the police that left Khider seriously wounded.

"Both men were arrested this morning," Gérard Gachet, spokesman for the Interior Ministry in Paris, told ABCNews.com. "It ended in a car pileup in a tunnel on a highway outside Paris involving the fugitives' vehicle, a truck and a police car in which three policemen were slightly injured.

"Everyone got out of their vehicles and one of the escapees, Christophe Khider, opened fire at the police."

Police fired back and wounded him. He is in a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries, Gachet said, adding that his accomplice, Top El Hadj, turned himself in without resistance.

Described as armed and dangerous by French authorities, the two fugitives successively took several hostages throughout their two-day escapade; all were released unharmed. The pair switched vehicles several times in their bid to lose the police.

It all started Sunday afternoon during visiting hours at the Moulis-Yzeure prison. Khider, who is serving a life sentence for an armed robbery that left one person dead, and Top El Hadj, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for a gunfire exchange with the police in 2002, were being visited by family members when they pulled out a gun and took two prison guards hostage.

Using powerful explosives that had been smuggled into the prison, the men destroyed two armored doors and ended up in front of the prison's main gate.

To avoid a bloodbath, prison officials ordered the gate to be opened. The escapees stole a vehicle from the prison parking lot and piled in their hostages. They then changed vehicles in Nervers after an accident, before stealing a third vehicle, an Audi A4, and heading north.

Previous Escape Attempt

They forced their way through a road toll just south of Paris. French police did not intercept them at that point, knowing that the guards' lives were in danger. Both guards were released unharmed outside Paris three hours after the escape had taken place.

It was not Khider's first attempt to escape from prison. In May 2001, his brother Cyril tried to help him escape from the Fresnes prison outside of Paris using a helicopter, but the rope he threw out was too short and the attempt failed.

Before the helicopter left, a bag full of weapons fell into the prison courtyard. Khider and another detainee took three guards hostage. The hostages were released after a 20-hour standoff. Khider was sentenced to 15 years in prison for the attempt.

Catherine Charles, Khider's mother, told French Television Monday that he did not have anything to lose anymore. "This is what is called in the U.S. a suicide by cop, to be killed by the authority whatever it is. Rather than hanging himself or taking pills, it's the choice" he has made to end his life, she told France 2 TV.

French authorities continued today their investigation of how weapons and explosives made it inside the prison, one of the most secure in France. Two relatives of the escapees are still being questioned by the police this morning.