(UnitedVoice.com) – France isn’t a place that often comes to mind when thinking about gang bosses. But that doesn’t mean they don’t exist there. In fact, the presence of powerful criminals in the country was on full display recently in a violent ambush.

On May 14, officers in France were transporting Mohamed “The Fly” Amra from court to prison. They were traveling on the A154 motorway in Val-de-Reuil around 9 a.m. when the van carrying the notorious crime boss was rammed at a toll booth. Gunmen wearing balaclavas suddenly opened fire on the vehicle with alleged assault rifles.

Two prison officers died in the attack and three others were seriously injured. The gunmen helped Amra escape, and he’s now on the run. French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin told the public that the government deployed “unprecedented” efforts to find the criminals. Hundreds of officers are searching for Amra and his accomplices.

BBC reported Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti spoke about the guards who died, saying one of them had a wife who was five months pregnant. The other one left behind two children and a spouse. His kids were going to celebrate their 21st birthday just days after the ambush that killed their dad.

Amra, who is known as the head of a narcotics gang, was suspected of a kidnapping that led to someone’s death. He was also recently convicted of burglary. He reportedly tried to escape custody just two days before the van attack. He’d allegedly attempted to saw through the bars of his cell.

French President Emmanuel Macron issued a statement saying “everything is being done to find the perpetrators.”

The attackers reportedly escaped in a car after killing the guards and freeing the suspected murderer. That vehicle was later found abandoned near the area where the ambush took place. Law enforcement has set up roadblocks across the country and is asking the public for tips.

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