French detainee escapes Louvre outing, reappears in Senegal

People queue outside the Louvre museum, in Paris, France, Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

A French detainee who escaped during an outing to the Louvre museum last week has turned up in Senegal, a source with knowledge of the case has told AFP.

The detainee, born in 2001, was arrested when he arrived in the west African country, the source said Tuesday, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity because not allowed to speak to news media.

It was not immediately clear how he had travelled to Senegal, nor what day he was arrested.

He and two other convicts were on their way from the Paris suburb of Nanterre to the Louvre, accompanied by six minders, when he escaped.

He ran off at a metro station on Friday afternoon, the source said.

The prosecutor’s office in Nanterre on Saturday said it had opened an investigation following an escape.

Another source following the matter said the fugitive had been jailed for burglary and drug dealing and had been due to be released in 2028.

Judges sometimes allow French prisoners out of jail on supervised cultural trips as part of a plan to facilitate their reintegration into society.

A string of such escapes have made the news in France in recent months.

A 37-year-old in November escaped custody during a trip to a planetarium in the western city of Rennes, but was caught the following month.

In January last year, a 28-year-old ran away from his minders on the way back to jail from a trip to an anthropology museum.

Also in November, two detainees used bed sheets to escape from a prison in the eastern city of Dijon after sawing through their cell bars with blades likely delivered by a drone.

Police caught the first the following day sitting in a village bar drinking coffee, then arrested the second in December.