A Belgian gangster dubbed "The Eel" for his skill at slipping out of prisons has been caught after his latest escapade.
Nordin Benallal fled from one of the country's most modern and secure jails on Sunday after taking guards hostage at gunpoint when his getaway helicopter crashed. He was caught yesterday after holding up a motorcycle shop in the Netherlands, police said.
Sunday's was Benallal's fourth escape after an accomplice forced a helicopter to land in Ittre prison yard during evening exercise time. That plan failed when other convicts attempted to jump on and the aircraft crashed, injuring the pilot and several prisoners.
Benallal and the accomplice managed to escape anyway by taking two guards hostage at gunpoint and walking out the main entrance, then stealing a car. After crossing into the Netherlands, he and another man tried to rob a motorcycle store, police said. The other suspect has not been identified.
"They fled on a stolen motorbike and the police chased them," a spokesman said. They were forced to ditch the cycle and took off on foot before being caught by police.
Benallal and another suspect are to appear before a judge on Friday on the attempted robbery charge, and then a Belgian extradition request will be considered.
In 2004 after being sentenced to 27 years in prison for a series of violent carjackings and house robberies, Benallal escaped when friends threw a rope ladder over the prison wall. A few days later, he shot and wounded two police officers trying to capture him, earning him another 12 years in prison.
The latest prison break triggered calls for tighter security at Belgian jails, with the country's law enforcement embarrassed by a series of recent escapes.
In April, two men hijacked a helicopter at gunpoint and forced the pilot to pluck a prisoner from exercise yard in a prison outside Liege. He was re-arrested in Italy.
Turkish militant Fehriye Erdal remains on the run after escaping house arrest last year the day before she was due to be sentenced on terrorism charges. Turkey had sought her extradition in connection with the killing of a businessman.
In August 2006, 28 convicts overpowered guards and escaped from a prison in northern Belgium. Most remain at large.
Belgium's most notorious criminal, child killer Marc Dutroux, overpowered a guard and stole his gun while being transferred to court in 1998. He was caught a few hours later, but his escape forced the resignations of the justice and interior ministers.