Members of Nordin Ben Àllal's gang launched the daring escape on Sunday afternoon, by hijacking a helicopter and forcing the pilot to fly to the Ittre prison, 40 km (25 miles) away from Brussels. They then crash-landed in the prison yard during the prisoners' evening walk, injuring several inmates, one of them seriously.
The incident created a diversion that allowed Ben Allal and his accomplices to take a prison guard hostage, subsequently escaping in a car that had been waiting outside the prison gates.
To add to the confusion, the car, which was later found dumped in the nearby town of Braine-Le-Chateau, was equipped with a blue flashlight, similar to those used by Belgian police cars.
This is not the first time that Ben Allal, convicted on multiple charges of armed robbery and burglary, has smashed his way to freedom in a Hollywood-style breakout. In August 2004 he escaped from prison by clambering over a rope ladder which had been thrown over the wall of the prison where he was being held.
A similar escape was registered in Belgium in April, in the prison of Lantin near Liege, when two men hijacked a helicopter during a commercial leisure flight, forcing its pilot to fly to the prison yard.
Upon landing, the men threw smoke bombs, allowing their jailed friend, Eric Ferdinand, to climb aboard in the confusion. The pilot then landed in a field, and the men drove away in a waiting car.
Eric Ferdinand was later detained in Italy.
