France got their own taste of an epic, Hollywood-style Prison Break this last Saturday. One of France’s most notorious gangsters, Redoine Faid escaped from the Sequedin prison to flea his “heavy sentence over the 2010 death of a policewoman.”

After holding five people – including guards – at gunpoint, he blew himself to freedom by blasting through five prison doors.

Apparently the day before Faid’s escape he had a female visitor rumoured to be his wife, which is how authorities suspect the gangster took possession of a firearm and explosives strong enough to blast through multiple prison doors.

Once Faid broke through the prison perimeter, he escaped in a getaway car which was later set fire to, and burnt to a crisp. Faid has not been seen since.

Of course after a stint like this the security of the prison comes into question. Spokesman for the French Ministry of Justice told CNN on Sunday that:

There is a clear overpopulation problem in the Sequedin prison and this hinders the job of guarding prisoners

Apart from his crimes, Faid is famous for having written a book detailing his growth from petty criminal to Kingpin, in which he states that he was attracted to a life of crime by films like Scarface and Heat.

Faid to be exceptionally arrogant, so much so that even his lawyer said that he was not surprised that his client made a break for it.

[Source: Google, CNN]