These Are The Craziest Prison Break Stories Ever

This Frenchman Staged Three Helicopter Hijackings

Photo Credit: David Gamache / Medium

Frenchman Pascal Payet had been in and out of prison for over a decade before he was involved in an armored car heist in 1999 that ended with the death of a guard. He was imprisoned in the village of Luynes but fled in 2001 by high jacking a helicopter, although he was captured one week later.

In 2003, he pulled off a similar helicopter escape with three other prisoners. By 2007, he was one of the most closely-monitored prisoners due to his many escapes. Those measures didn’t work, and in July of 2007, four masked men hijacked a helicopter in Cannes and freed Payet from solitary confinement. He was captured several months later in Spain and was transferred back to French custody. His location has now since been kept private due to “security reasons.”