Sunday´s incident marked the first time that a helicopter has been used in a jailbreak in the French-speaking Canadian province of Quebec.[break]
Police said two accomplices working from outside the Saint-Jerome prison near Montreal had hijacked a helicopter, forced its pilot to hover over the jail and, using a rope ladder, picked up Benjamin Hudon-Barbeau and Danny Provencal from a prison rooftop.
The helicopter and its pilot were found some time later in Mont-Tremblant, according to the police. The pilot was unharmed but taken to hospital suffering from shock.
Quebec Provincial Police said they swiftly detained Hudon-Barbeau, 36, who appeared to have been injured, along with his two outside accomplices.
In a Twitter message, the police said that had also located Provencal, 33, and set up a security perimeter around him.
Radio Canada said Hudon-Barbeau has ties to the Hell´s Angels motorcycle club, which is considered an organized crime syndicate.
There was no word about Provencal´s background.
Media reports suggested that the inmates had held a gun to the pilot´s head.
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