Pink Panthers

This article is about the organized crime network. For the gay rights organization, see The Pink Panthers. For the series of comedy films, see The Pink Panther.

Pink Panthers
Type	Thievery
Legal status	Several members arrested
Purpose/focus	Organized Crime
Headquarters	/
Location	Serbia, Montenegro
Official languages	Serbian
Leader	Dragan M
Affiliations	Serbian Mafia
Staff	approx. 200-500

Pink Panthers is the name given by Interpol to an international jewel thief network, named after The Pink Panther series of crime comedy films, which is responsible for some of the most audacious thefts in criminal history. They are responsible for what have been termed some of the most glamorous heists ever, and one criminologist even described their crimes as "artistry". They have targeted several countries and continents, and include Japan's most successful robbery ever amongst their thefts.

Some law enforcement agencies suspect that the group is responsible for over US$500 million in bold robberies in Dubai, Switzerland, Japan, France, Liechenstein, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Monaco. Law enforcement suspect their involvement in the robbery of the jewellery store Harry Winston in Paris, on December 9, 2008. The thieves escaped with more than €80 million worth of jewellery.

Raids

Interpol has said it estimates that there are several hundred thieves in the group, and that many come from Serbia. However, other sources say the gang is suspected of having at least sixty members, around thirty of whom are thought to be from Montenegro. Several gang members are former soldiers with violent pasts. They are fluent in many different languages and possess passports which have been given to others.

In 1993, the gang first came to attention and earned the nickname "Pink Panthers" following the theft of a £500,000 diamond from a jewellers in the Mayfair area of central London in the United Kingdom. The thieves hid the diamond in a jar containing face cream, mimicking an act seen in the film The Return of the Pink Panther. In May 2005, Graff, a diamond specialist in London, was targeted by Pink Panthers and lost a total of £1 million in jewellery. Three men were suspected of being behind the theft; one was in possession of a firearm. Graff had been targeted in 2002 and lost £23 million on that occasion, £3 million of which had been recovered two years later. One of the thieves was sentenced to fifteen years in prison in July 2004.

In the space of six years during the twenty-first century, the Pink Panthers have robbed 120 stores in twenty different countries. Dubai, Geneva, Japan, London, Denmark, Monaco, Paris, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and the United States have all been targeted by the gang. Their attention to detail has enabled this high rate of success. Before robbing a jewellery store in Biarritz, the gang covered a nearby bench in fresh paint to deter anyone from sitting on it and seeing them in action.

The gang is suspected of having participated in at least two smash-and-grab jewelry robberies in Tokyo's Ginza district. The first, in 2004, netted ¥3.5 million in gems. The second, in June 2007, took jewelry valued at ¥284 million. In that heist, Rifat Hadziahmetovic and Radovan Jelusic sprayed tear gas at three saleswomen then took a tiara, necklaces, and other jewels and fled the store (see below for details of their subsequent arrests).

The gang is also known for its daring escapes and attempts to break into their chosen store. They robbed a jewellery store in Saint-Tropez in 2005 wearing T-shirts emblazoned with flowery designs then made their escape on a speed boat. Prior to one 2008 robbery of Graff jewellers in Dubai, eight gang members drove a pair of limousines through a window, taking watches and other items worth a total of £8 million. In a further robbery, four gang members dressed themselves up as women in December 2008 before breaking into France's Harry Winston jewellers in Paris. The gang escaped the store, carrying over $100 million (£60 million) in items. There is growing speculation that the $65 million heist August 6, 2009 of an exclusive London jewelry store was the work of the same group. A key element in the speculation is that the men who looted Graff Diamonds on New Bond Street Aug. 6 made no effort to hide their faces, suggesting that they had been able to alter their looks with "Mission Impossible" style prosthetic make-up.

Arrests and Breakouts

The thieves have been identified and linked through DNA matching according to Interpol leader Ronald Noble.

In 2005, two men and one woman gang member from Serbia were arrested in Belgrade. In October 2007, they were sentenced to jail terms by a court in Serbia for the theft of the Comtesse de Vendome necklace, worth approximately £15 million ($30 million), from a Tokyo jewelry boutique, in what was Japan's biggest ever jewel robbery in March 2004. The gang leader was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment whilst the other two were handed lesser sentences.

Three Pink Panthers from Serbia were declared guilty of robberies carried out in Biarritz, Cannes, Courchevel and Saint-Tropez by one court in Chambéry in 2008. Two were given jail-terms of six and ten years.

One suspect in a June 2007 Ginza heist, a Montenegrin-national named Rifat Hadziahmetovic, traveling on a forged Bulgarian passport, was arrested in March 2009 by Cypriot police at Larnaca International Airport. He is due to serve a sentence in Cyprus for travelling on a forged passport before being extradited to Spain. He was extradited from Spain to Japan and, in September 2011, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. HIs accomplice, Radovan Jelusic, was arrested in Italy in 2010 over a separate crime, then was extradited to Montenegro to stand trial on 18 May 2012.

On 20 June 2009, French police in Monte Carlo detained another three members of the gang seen loitering near jewellery shops in Monaco. The gang members drove up outside a casino in Casino Square on 18 June 2009. The men were told to lie down and were then handcuffed before being whisked away from the scene quickly.

One of the three arrested, Dragan Mikić, is of special interest to the police investigation. He is from Serbia and is on the Interpol's "Most Wanted" list, possibly being a senior member of the Pink Panthers. Mikić has been on the run since 2005 after breaking out of jail via a ladder whilst other people fired machine guns at the prison.

A head figure of Pink Panthers, Mitar Marjanovic, was arrested on 8 March 2012 in Rome, after two of his accomplices in a bank robbery, committed a month earlier, dropped stolen items containing Marjanovic's fingerprints.

On 14 March 2012, three more members of the gang were arrested in Athens, Greece. Two of the three were male Serbians, aged 20 and 36, and were arrested while reconnoitering a jewelry store robbery. Patrolling police was prompted to question them due to their wearing wigs. The two men fled and the 36 year old fired and injured a police officer during the pursuit that followed. Both were arrested and led the police to the arrest of the third person, a 43 year old Serbian female, Olivera Vasić Ćirković. On 12 July 2012 Olivera escaped from Athens' prison by knocking out a guard and stealing her keys.

On 14 May 2013, a member of the gang escaped from the "Bois-Mermet" prison in Lausanne, Switzerland. He hasn't yet been caught. He escaped with the help of 3 men from outside the prison who prepared meticulously for this escape operation and proceeded to the escape of this member of the gang and also 4 other prisoners.

External links

• The Pink Panthers, The New Yorker, David Samuels, 2010 (subscription required)