French police capture teen who escaped prison using bed sheets

A 19-year-old who escaped from a French prison in November has been arrested, authorities have told the BBC.

Yanik Touoibati Chaduli, along with a 32-year-old man, had fled a prison in the eastern city of Dijon. They sawed through cell bars and climbed down a wall using bed sheets, according to local media.

The prosecutor's office in Marseille, in the south of France, said the suspect was apprehended on Thursday in the Cité des Rosiers.

France's Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez sent his "heartfelt congratulations to the officers of the National Fugitive Search Brigade for tracking down the escapee from the Dijon prison, and to the BRI for his arrest".

The teenager was found in the port city of Marseille after Interpol issued a red notice, the AFP news agency reported.

French newspaper Le Monde added that he was in pretrial detention after being charged with attempted murder and criminal conspiracy.

The older man he escaped with was captured 24 hours after breaking out, the paper reported.

France has seen a number of prison escapes in recent months and years.

In July, officials told local media that a man had escaped from a prison by hiding in the bag of a fellow inmate who was being released having served their sentence.

In 2018, notorious gangster Rédoine Faid escaped by helicopter from a prison in the Paris region. He was helped by three heavily-armed men carrying assault rifles.

Faid - who had also successfully escaped from a prison outside Lille in 2013 - was captured three months later.