Beautiful Virgin Islands

Monday, Oct 06, 2025

Elite police unit deployed to French prison as inmate reportedly dubbed ‘monster of Colombes’ takes 2 guards hostage

Elite police unit deployed to French prison as inmate reportedly dubbed ‘monster of Colombes’ takes 2 guards hostage

A violent inmate has taken two guards hostage in a high-security prison in north-western France. The man surrendered only after the police and the prison administration deployed two elite units to the scene.
The hostage crisis unfolded at France’s Conde-sur-Sarthe penitentiary – a high-security prison housing some dangerous inmates – early on Tuesday morning when a violent prisoner took two prison supervisors hostage.

The inmate attacked and injured one of the guards before locking him with another guard in his own cell, French media reported. The man wielded a hand-crafted 15-centimeter-long blade, a member of the elite prison intervention unit ERIS told BFMTV.

The prisoner reportedly sought to negotiate the conditions of his prison sentence with the prison administration, according to some reports. The man is serving a life sentence over rape and attempted murder, with a minimum term of 22 years.

Two elite intervention units – the ERIS of the prison administration and RAID of the French National Police – were deployed to the scene to deal with the situation. Eventually, the inmate released the hostages and surrendered without any further violence after negotiations with RAID later in the day.

French Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti confirmed that the “hostage-taking situation was over” on Twitter, as he expressed his support to the two prison guards and congratulated the members of the elite units on “making this swift outcome possible.”

One of the guards reportedly sustained a serious injury to his eye during the incident, while another one was left unharmed.

The inmate in question, whom some French media identified as Sofiane Rasmouk, appears to be known for a series of extremely violent crimes that earned him the nickname, the ‘monster of Colombes’.

The man was convicted as many as 20 times between 2002 and 2012 for various offenses, and was described as a “recidivist psychopath” by French media. One of his relatives told Le Figaro back in 2016 that Rasmouk was “crazy and could become violent at any time.”

In 2013, he assaulted and raped one young woman and attempted to rape another, beating her nearly to death and leaving her severely disabled in the town of Colombes, just north-west of Paris. He was sentenced to life in prison in 2017, and was initially sent to another prison in Baois-d'Arcy.

He was transferred to Conde-sur-Sarthe in mid-September, following an earlier attack on a prison guard in 2018 in which he reportedly attempted to attack the warden with a handmade knife, but was overpowered and restrained.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
Disney Reinstates ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ after Six-Day Suspension over Charlie Kirk Comments
U.S. Prosecutors Move to Break Up Google’s Advertising Monopoly
×