Inmates escape jail in helicopter

CHERTSEY, QUE.—A dramatic daylight jailbreak involving two Quebec inmates climbing a rope into a hovering helicopter swiftly escalated into a large police operation Sunday, with both men tracked down hours after they fled.

Just before 8:30 p.m., police confirmed they had arrested Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau and two other suspects.

An hour later, police said they had located the second escapee, Danny Provencal, and had set up a perimeter around the area where he was found.

Much of the action took place in Chertsey, Que., about 50 kilometres north of the jail in Saint-Jerome where the inmates staged their brazen escape.

Police wouldn’t give any details about how the arrests were made or what those who had been arrested would be charged with. Provincial police spokesman Benoit Richard said those in custody would be questioned by investigators and appear in court Monday morning.

Earlier on Sunday, authorities said Hudon-Barbeau, 36, and Provencal, 33, had broken out of the jail by clambering up a rope into a waiting helicopter.

“The suspects just took the rope in their hands and started fleeing,” Richard recalled the jail’s warden saying.

Police had tracked down the helicopter about 85 kilometres away in Mont-Tremblant, but only the pilot was still at the scene. He was taken to an area hospital where investigators were expected to speak with him. Police said it was too early to know the pilot’s role in the escape.

Hours after the jailbreak, a Montreal radio station, 98.5 FM, received a call from a man claiming to be Hudon-Barbeau, who said he was “ready to die” as he tried to evade police.

“The way they’re treating me in there, it’s unreal,” the man told the radio station. “They won’t let me be. They put me back in prison for nothing.”

Authorities did not immediately speak to the claims made in the radio station interview.

Yves Galarneau, the correctional services manager who oversees the Saint-Jerome jail, said there are no security measures in place at the jail to prevent a helicopter from swooping down from above.

“As far as I know, it’s a first in Quebec,” he told reporters at the scene.

The facility, located some 60 kilometres northwest of Montreal, is a provincial detention centre with a maximum-security wing. There was a mini-riot there by about a dozen prisoners a little over a month ago.

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