Nicknamed the Pink Panthers because of their habit of targeting jewellers, and
wanted by Interpol, the gang is believed to consist of ex-soldiers from the
former Yugoslavia, who fought in the wars of the 1990s.
They are believed to have been responsible for dozens of robberies around the
world, including a raid in Dubai in 2008 which they smashed two cars into
the windows of a jewellery shop, making off with jewellery and designer
watches.
The gang is also suspected of having been behind around 120 robberies in
Britain, Germany, Monaco, Spain, France, Japan and Luxembourg, stealing
jewellery worth up to £150 million.
During a raid in St Tropez in the south of France in 2005, they dressed up as
tourists in shorts and Hawaiian-style shirts and then fled the scene in a
powerful speedboat.
The gang was suspected of being behind a raid in the French Riviera resort of
Cannes in November last year in which a jeweller was fatally shot.
He was killed with a single bullet to the head, as the gang smashed display
cabinets with baseball bats.
The robbers, armed with Kalashnikovs, escaped on motorbikes, wearing helmets
and masks.
A raid on two casinos in the south of France in April last year was also
blamed on the Pink Panthers.
A senior French investigator said the raids bore all the hallmarks of the gang
– “swift, meticulously planned, brutally efficient and (with the
use of) heavy weapons”.
The Pink Panthers earned their nickname in 1993 after stealing a £500,000
diamond from a jewellers in Mayfair and hiding it in a jar of face cream – a
trick copied from the 1963 film starring Peter Sellers as the bumbling
Inspector Clouseau.
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