Story highlights French justice officials say there is a clear prison "overpopulation problem" 
 
 Redoine Faid was a wanted criminal in the '90s known for attacking armored trucks 
 
 Faid held guards at gunpoint and used explosives to burst through a prison's doors 
 
 Law enforcement in France and elsewhere in Europe are now hunting for him 
 
 The brazen escape of a notorious gangster in France may be due partly to a problem plaguing the prison that couldn't hold him: overcrowding. 
 
 There is a clear "overpopulation problem in the Sequedin prison and this hinders the job of guarding prisoners," a spokesman for the French Ministry of Justice told CNN on Sunday, commenting on the escape of Redoine Faid. 
 
 Faid allegedly held five people, including four guards, at gunpoint at the detention center in the northern city of Lille on Saturday, officials said. 
 
 He burst his way to freedom by allegedly detonating explosives that destroyed five doors, penitentiary union spokesman Etienne Dobrometz told CNN affiliate BFMTV. 
 
 His whereabouts are unknown. 
 
 French prison escapee Redoine Faid. 
 
 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Redoine Faid, said to be one of France's most dangerous gangsters, escaped from the Lille-Sequedin penitentiary in Sequedin, France, on Saturday, April 13. Hide Caption 1 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Police officers seek evidence around the destroyed door of the Lille-Sequedin penitentiary on April 13. Hide Caption 2 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Policemen search for clues in the prison yard. Faid, who faced a heavy sentence in the 2010 death of a policewoman, used explosives to blast through five prison doors. Hide Caption 3 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Members of the Eris Police service investigate at the prison. Hide Caption 4 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Forensics experts work on Saturday near a door opened with explosives by Faid. Hide Caption 5 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – Members of the ERIS Police service guard the destroyed prison door. Hide Caption 6 of 7 Photos: Daring escape from French prison Daring escape from French prison – French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira arrives in front of the prison. Hide Caption 7 of 7 
 
 French Justice Minister Christiane Taubira told reporters on Saturday that a European arrest warrant covering 26 countries had been issued and that Interpol had been called in. 
 
 An Interpol spokesman told CNN no public notice had been issued on Faid. Interpol can also issue "restricted" notices that are not public. The spokesman did not say whether one had been issued in this case. 
 
 Police detained a brother of Faid for questioning only, according to a law enforcement source, who did not provide other details about that development. 
 
 The source spoke on the condition of not being identified because the person is not permitted to discuss the matter publicly. 
 
 The source also estimated that up to 150 French police are working on the case. 
 
 Faid's prison escape raises a number of questions: How did an inmate get guns and explosives? How did he manage to use those to force his way out? And, after all that, why is he still at large? 
 
 The four guards who Faid allegedly held hostage "are safe and sound," said Lille prosecutor Frederic Fevre. 
 
 Still, officials from the prison guards' union pressed Taubira to provide better safety measures inside prisons, including more thorough searches of those who enter, BFMTV reported. 
 
 Built in 2005, the Lille-Sequedin penitentiary is not old, but it's not well designed to keep watch of prisoners, said Jimmy Delliste, a former associate director there. 
 
 "The construction ... makes it particularly difficult to manage detainees, who are particularly difficult to watch," Delliste told BFMTV. 
 
 Modern-day gangster 
 
 Faid fashioned himself as a modern-day gangster. 
 
 He thought big -- getting inspiration from the movies. He wore a hockey mask, like Robert DeNiro's character in "Heat," and acted audaciously in attacking armored trucks among other targets. 
 
 After more than a decade in prison, though, the Frenchman insisted he'd changed. 
 
 This promise didn't last long, according to French authorities. 
 
 A year after his autobiography was published, Faid, who was free at the time, landed back behind bars in 2011. 
 
 One person not surprised by Faid's breakout is his lawyer, Jean-Louis Pelletier. 
 
 Pelletier had planned to meet his client soon in preparation for an upcoming trial tied to a May 2010 attack in Villiers-sur-Marne, east of Paris, that left a 26-year-old policewoman dead. 
 
 "He is remarkably intelligent, and he is using his intellect to serve his ambitions," Pelletier told BFMTV. "(And Faid) cannot stand being imprisoned anymore." 
 
 In his autobiography, "Robber: From Suburbs to Organized Crime," Faid chronicled his progression from a petty thief to one of France's most notorious criminals, according to the book's publisher, La Manufacture De Livres. 
 
 In 1998, after three years on the run during which he fled to Switzerland, Faid was caught. Sentenced to 20 years, he ended up spending more than a decade in high-security prisons around France. 
 
 After being released, Faid put himself out there -- not only with his book, but also as the subject of numerous interviews. 
 
 The high-adrenaline life of crime he described resembled that of another famous French gangster, Jacques Mesrine. 
 
 The country's most-wanted man in the 1970s, Mesrine made his name as a charismatic, press-courting criminal known for his daring bank heists and spectacular prison breaks. 
 
 Mesrine's story ended in 1979, when he was gunned down by police on the streets of Paris. ||||| Top French gangster in spectacular jailbreak 
 
 By Marine Laouchez (AFP) – Apr 14, 2013 
 
 SEQUEDIN, France — One of France's most dangerous gangsters, known for brazen attacks on cash-in-transit vehicles, blasted his way out of jail after briefly taking several wardens hostage, officials said. 
 
 Redoine Faid, who risked a heavy sentence over the 2010 death of a policewoman, used explosives Saturday to blast through five prison doors and break free in the northern town of Sequedin. 
 
 Police and helicopters were trying to track the 40-year-old, who set fire to his getaway car in the south of the city of Lille before getting into a second vehicle. 
 
 State Prosecutor Frederic Fevre said Faid, who had already been France's most wanted a few years ago, was a "particularly dangerous prisoner" and was still armed and in possession of explosives. 
 
 France's Justice Minister Christiane Taubira said Interpol had been called in to help track Faid and added that a Europe-wide warrant had been issued. 
 
 "The hunt will initially focus on Belgium of course because we share a border but also extend to the entire Schengen area and beyond," she told reporters from Sequedin. 
 
 Fevre said Faid had four hostages with him during the jailbreak. One was released just outside the prison, another a few hundred metres away and then the final two were left along a highway. 
 
 Wardens unions described the prison break as "an act of war" and also argued that the Sequedin jail was inadequate for such dangerous convicts. 
 
 "This escape and hostage-taking were methodically prepared," the CGT union said, complaining that searches on detainees were not thorough enough. 
 
 Taubira denied that there had been any "fault" on the part of the wardens in the dramatic episode. 
 
 A woman who was visiting her imprisoned son described the chaos caused by Faid's sprint to freedom. 
 
 "I thought my last hour had come. Suddenly, everything started blowing up. The walls started shaking, as did the windows and the doors. I was really scared," Rose Lafont said. 
 
 Prison union leader Etienne Dobremetz said Faid had received a visit from his wife earlier on Saturday morning. 
 
 Contacted by AFP, her lawyer vehemently denied any suspicion of involvement in her husband's escape. 
 
 "It happened very quickly, it was clearly very well organised, we are still busy putting the facts together," a local administrative official said. 
 
 Faid is also known for co-authoring two books after a decade in prison for robbery, about his delinquent youth and rise as a criminal in Paris' impoverished crime-ridden suburbs. 
 
 He said his life of crime was inspired by American films such as "Scarface" and "Heat" -- where Robert De Niro's armoured car heist has been cited as the model for real life attacks in South Africa, Colombia and other countries. 
 
 "Movies for me were like a user's guide for armed robbery," he told the LCI news channel when his autobiography was released in 2010 relating his rise from petty thieving in his native northern Paris suburb to gangster stardom. 
 
 After his first robbery, Faid, of Algerian extraction, fled to Israel where he wore the Jewish skullcap and picked up Hebrew to blend in. 
 
 Despite vowing he had turned his back on crime Faid was in 2010 suspected of being the mastermind of an armed robbery in which a young policewoman was killed in a shootout. 
 
 Faid, nicknamed "The writer", landed back in prison in 2011 for failing to comply with his parole conditions and was due to serve the remaining eight years of his original sentence. 
 
 He faced 30 more years over the policewoman's death however. 
 
 "I wasn't surprised when I heard about his escape although there were no signs that anything was in the works," his lawyer Jean-Louis Pelletier told AFP. 
 
 He described his client as an extremely intelligent and well connected person. 
 
 The Sequedin prison is designed for 638 inmates and currently houses some 800 detainees with 220 guards, according to the Ufap-Unsa union. 
 
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– A French gangster inspired by movies like Scarface and Heat broke out of prison yesterday and sparked a manhunt across Europe, CNN reports. Redoine Faid, 40, briefly held four guards hostage and blew up several prison doors before fleeing in a getaway car. He later set fire to his car and left two hostages standing on a highway, reports AFP. His current whereabouts: unknown. "He is remarkably intelligent, and he is using his intellect to serve his ambitions," said Faid's lawyer. "He cannot stand being imprisoned anymore." Faid spent 10 years in prison for robbery before he achieved celebrity in 2010 with his autobiography, Robber: From Suburbs to Organized Crime. But he was back behind bars a year later, suspected of organizing an armored-car robbery that left a policewoman dead in a shootout. Now an estimated 150 French police are after him, Interpol is involved, and warrants have been issued in 26 countries. Authorities say Faid's wife visited him yesterday and may have smuggled explosives into the prison—a claim her lawyer vigorously denies.