They took advantage of a security breach to flee at mealtime.
According to information from our colleagues from Europe 1, confirmed by AFP, a dozen people fled from an administrative detention center (CRA) on Wednesday evening, in Metz (Moselle).
The prefect went there.
“A judicial investigation is underway” and “measures are being taken to search for the individuals”, added the prefecture.
The fugitives would be aged between 18 and 32 and three of them would be released from prison.
It would be 2 Moroccans, 9 Algerians and a Libyan.
Six of them had been placed in CRA after a police custody for thefts or violence.
A fugitive was arrested after injuring himself trying to climb a fence.
He was taken into custody and then hospitalized.
The small band would have crocheted security gates of this detention center located just next to the prison, "thanks to a craft hook made on site".
The lock of the door which allowed their escape "benefited from a bolt shield placed only on one side", according to the first elements of the investigation.
Read alsoForeigners victims of “abusive” confinement in French detention centers
There followed riots and strong tensions in this center with a capacity of 98 people.
The police only noticed their disappearance after a return to calm and viewing the video surveillance footage, an hour later.
"A judicial investigation is underway," added the prefecture.
Steps are being taken to search for the individuals.”
The CRAs welcome foreigners who are subject to an obligation to leave the territory, until this becomes feasible.
42,353 people in an irregular situation awaiting deportation were detained in 2021 in France, including 26,485 in Mayotte.
The average duration of confinement has reached 22 days in metropolitan France, up 32%, according to associations which help migrants.
