French police arrest the second escapee from an overcrowded Dijon jail, where inmates used saw blades likely delivered by drone to cut cell bars.
MARSEILLE: French police have captured the second inmate who escaped from an overcrowded prison in late November using bedsheets and saw blades.
The 19-year-old escapee, a suspect in a drug-linked attempted murder case, was found in the southern port city of Marseille following an Interpol red notice.
He and another detainee fled the Dijon prison after sawing through their cell bars with blades investigators suspect were delivered by drone.
Police tracked the Marseille native to a run-down apartment complex in the north of the city, a known drug-dealing hotspot.
His 32-year-old fellow fugitive, accused of violence against a partner, was arrested a day after their escape at a village bar.
Guards discovered the two men had fled the Dijon facility before dawn.
The older inmate left a message in his cell stating he had been held for “too long”, according to Dijon’s public prosecutor, Olivier Caracotch.
Union official Ahmed Saih said the inmates used “old-fashioned, manual saw blades”, with several such blades found previously at the jail.
Caracotch said the saws were likely delivered by drones, with several individuals already sentenced over drone deliveries to the same prison.
In late November, police also arrested a 19-year-old accomplice near Besancon on charges related to the organised gang escape.
French prisons suffer severe overcrowding, hosting 135 inmates per 100 places available in early October.
The Dijon prison, built in 1853, is in poor condition and holds 311 inmates in a facility designed for 180.
The breakout sparked outcry from unions accusing the state of neglecting regular jails.
Justice Minister Gerald Darmanin had announced the Dijon facility was scheduled to receive EUR 6.3 million to eradicate mobile phones just a week before the escape.
