Pallade Veneta - Romania says detained French high-profile convict has left for France

French convict Mohamed Amra -- on the run since his escape last May in an ambush that left two prison officers dead -- was arrested near a shopping centre in Bucharest on Saturday.

Even though he changed his appearance and dyed his hair, Amra had been identified through facial recognition tools and his fingerprints.

Romania vowed to hand the high-profile convict over to the French authorities, despite him contesting his detention.

Handcuffed and flanked by Romanian special police forces, Amra was seen being escorted through the lobby of Bucharest airport on Tuesday.

Amra has left Romania for France on board a plane and was due to arrive about three hours later, Romanian airport authorities told AFP.

The 30-year-old convict is accused of gangland murders and drug trafficking.

Since the weekend, authorities have detained more than 20 of his suspected accomplices, including in Morocco and in Spain.

Amra had vanished after the attack with military-grade assault weapons on a prison van carrying him in northern France nine months ago.

The brutality of the ambush, which was caught on CCTV, shocked France and Amra instantly became the country's most wanted man.

The authorities tasked more than 300 investigators with finding Amra, who is known as "La Mouche" (The Fly), and has a long history of convictions for violent crimes that started when he was in his early teens.

According to a 2024 judiciary report, he started out with aggravated robberies and progressively "slid towards violence", eventually entering the world of organised crime.

The report found that authorities underestimated for some time just how dangerous he had become.

Amra is suspected of pursuing his drug-related activities from his prison cell, and even of ordering hits from detention.

D.Bruno--PV