French law enforcement has successfully apprehended 19-year-old Yanik Touoibati Chaduli, ending a month-long manhunt for the escaped prisoner who fled custody in November. The teenager was captured Thursday in Marseille’s Cité des Rosiers district following an extensive international search operation.
Chaduli and his 32-year-old accomplice executed a daring escape from Dijon prison in eastern France through an elaborate scheme involving sawing through cell bars and descending prison walls using knotted bed sheets. While the older inmate was recaptured within 24 hours of their breakout, Chaduli remained at large until this week’s operation.
The arrest came after Interpol issued a red notice for Chaduli, who was being held in pretrial detention on serious charges including attempted murder and criminal conspiracy. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez publicly commended the National Fugitive Search Brigade and the BRI special intervention force for their successful tracking and apprehension of the escapee.
This incident highlights ongoing security challenges within France’s correctional system, which has experienced multiple high-profile escapes in recent years. In July, another inmate escaped by concealing himself in a released prisoner’s belongings, while notorious gangster Rédoine Faid famously escaped via helicopter from a Paris-region prison in 2018—his second successful prison break in five years before being recaptured months later.
The repeated security breaches have raised questions about prison infrastructure and protocols across French correctional facilities, with authorities now facing increased pressure to address systemic vulnerabilities in the nation’s detention system.