paris a french criminal serving 25 years for murder made an escape from prison on sunday after a helicopter carrying armed commandos landed in a courtyard freed him from a visiting room and carried him awayit was the second escape by redoine faid who once blasted his way out of a different prison with explosives hidden in tissue packs in 2013 after the escape faid was arrested at a hotel six weeks later he is one of frances most famous gangsters he has said he was inspired by hollywood movies such as scarface and heatunarmed guards said they could do nothing to prevent it two commandos wearing police armbands entered the prison to look for faid they used a grinding machine to open the door to the visiting room martial delabroye a representative of the guards union told bfm televisionthe commandos used smoke canisters to hide from cctv cameras and the helicopter touched down in the only part of the complex that was not covered by antihelicopter netting said another union member loic delbroca third commando was holding the pilot at gunpoint union members said french media reported that the three men took the pilot hostage at a flying club in the paris region he was later released with no physical injuries the helicopter was found burned in the suburbs of paris faid was believed to have left by car along with his accomplices he was arrested in 1998 after three years on the run in switzerland and israel according to media reportsfaid was freed in 2009 after serving 10 years at the time he swore that he had turned his life around writing a confessional book and going on a media tour in 2010 he was arrested again in 2011 for the robbery that led to the death of a police officer