A video showing the moment a helicopter arrived in the yard of a Quebec jail to break out a trio of gangsters has been released by Quebec’s top court.
The 43-second surveillance footage shows two men backing away while a green helicopter maneuvered its landing in an open outdoor area of the Orsainville Detention Centre on June 7. The evidence was presented to a provincial courtroom on Nov. 19, reports CBC News.
It was an incident that made international headlines, and triggered an Interpol alert.
The trio’s taste of freedom was short-lived: three men Yves Denis, 35, Denis Lefebvre, 53, and 49-year-old Serge Pomerleau, were arrested on June 22 in a Montreal condo. At the time of their escape, they were on trial for drug trafficking and gangsterism charges.
Despite the unorthodox nature of the jailbreak, a government inquiry into the incident concluded it was still “predictable,” citing earlier warnings and recommendations made to corrections officials about a similar situation a year earlier.
In March 2013, two inmates escaped by clutching on to a rope dropped from from a helicopter that hovered overhead a St-Jérôme jail. The pilot in involved with that escape was allegedly held at gunpoint by a co-conspirator.
Four people were later arrested.
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