It was on a sidewalk in Bucharest, Romania, on the outskirts of the Promenada shopping mall, that the run of France's most wanted fugitive, Mohamed Amra, came to an end at 3 pm on Saturday, February 22. Dryly flanked by two hooded Romanian police officers, the trafficker no longer held his defiant stare as on the photo police had circulated for nine months in 196 countries. The man nicknamed "The Fly," was crudely disguised, with orange-dyed hair and beard, and large glasses.

He was arrested without reaction before being presented, on Sunday, to the Bucharest court, where he agreed to be handed over to France. Pending his extradition, he was incarcerated under heavy guard in a detention center located in Sector 1 of Bucharest. Thus ended a manhunt that began on May 14, 2024, with his deadly escape from a prison van at a toll both in Normandy during a criminal operation that resulted in the killings of two prison guards.

Over the weekend, 10 of his alleged accomplices, suspected of having taken part in his release or of having provided logistical support for his escape, were arrested across Europe. The geography of these arrests is hardly surprising, given the 30-year-old's criminal past. He was firmly rooted in Normandy, between Rouen and Evreux, and projected his activities beyond France's borders into the Netherlands and Spain, the main transit countries for the narcotics he traded.

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