Pink Panthers
Encyclopedia
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, with their crimes being thought of as "artistry" even by criminologist
s. 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.
. 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 white 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, 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 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 limousine
s 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. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/International/story?id=8327555&page=1
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, a Montenegrin-national traveling on a forged Bulgaria
n 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 has subsequently been extradited from Spain to Japan.
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.
Interpol
Interpol, whose full name is the International Criminal Police Organization – INTERPOL, is an organization facilitating international police cooperation...
to an international jewel thief network, named after The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther is a series of comedy films featuring the bungling French police detective Jacques Clouseau that began in 1963 with the release of the film of the same name. The role was originated by, and is most closely associated with, Peter Sellers...
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, with their crimes being thought of as "artistry" even by criminologist
Criminology
Criminology is the scientific study of the nature, extent, causes, and control of criminal behavior in both the individual and in society...
s. 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$
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
500 million in bold robberies in Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Liechenstein, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. Law enforcement suspect their involvement in the robbery of the jewellery store Harry Winston in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, on December 9, 2008. The thieves escaped with more than €
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
80 million worth of jewellery.
Raids
Interpol has said it believes the group of about several hundreds thieves 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 MontenegroMontenegro
Montenegro Montenegrin: Crna Gora Црна Гора , meaning "Black Mountain") is a country located in Southeastern Europe. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the south-west and is bordered by Croatia to the west, Bosnia and Herzegovina to the northwest, Serbia to the northeast and Albania to the...
. 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
Mayfair
Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
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
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther is the fourth film in the Pink Panther series, released in 1975. The film stars Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his third Panther appearance, after the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark.Herbert Lom also reprises his role as Chief...
. In May 2005, Graff, a diamond specialist in London, was targeted by Pink Panthers and lost a total of £1 million in jewellery. Three white 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
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, London, Monaco, Paris, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, the United Arab Emirates
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, abbreviated as the UAE, or shortened to "the Emirates", is a state situated in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman, and Saudi Arabia, and sharing sea borders with Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and Iran.The UAE is a...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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
Biarritz
Biarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
, the gang covered a nearby bench in fresh paint to deter anyone from sitting on it and seeing them in action.
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
Saint-Tropez
Saint-Tropez is a town, 104 km to the east of Marseille, in the Var department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. It is also the principal town in the canton of 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
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
, eight gang members drove a pair of limousine
Limousine
A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....
s 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. http://abcnews.go.com/Business/International/story?id=8327555&page=1
Arrests
The thieves have been identified and linked through DNADNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
matching according to Interpol leader Ronald Noble
Ronald Noble
Ronald Kenneth Noble is an American law enforcement officer, and the current Secretary General of INTERPOL.-Biography:...
.
In 2005, two men and one woman gang member from Serbia were arrested in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
. In October 2007, they were sentenced to jail terms by a court in Serbia for the theft of the Comtesse de Vendome necklace
Comtesse de Vendome
The Comtesse de Vendôme is a diamond necklace composed of 116 diamonds, including a centerpiece 125-carat diamond, and an estimated value of approximately 31 million dollars...
, 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
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, Courchevel
Courchevel
Courchevel is the name of a ski resort located in the commune of Saint-Bon-Tarentaise in the French Alps, in the Tarentaise Valley, Savoie, Rhône-Alpes region. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski area in the world...
and Saint-Tropez by one court in Chambéry
Chambéry
Chambéry is a city in the department of Savoie, located in the Rhône-Alpes region in southeastern France.It is the capital of the department and has been the historical capital of the Savoy region since the 13th century, when Amadeus V of Savoy made the city his seat of power.-Geography:Chambéry...
in 2008. Two were given jail-terms of six and ten years.
One suspect, a Montenegrin-national traveling on a forged Bulgaria
Bulgaria
Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...
n passport, was arrested in March 2009 by Cypriot
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
police at Larnaca International Airport
Larnaca International Airport
Larnaca International Airport is an international airport located southwest of Larnaca, Cyprus. Larnaca International Airport is Cyprus' main international gateway and the larger of the country's two commercial airports, the other being Paphos International Airport on the island's southwestern...
. He is due to serve a sentence in Cyprus for travelling on a forged passport before being extradited to Spain. He has subsequently been extradited from Spain to Japan.
On 20 June 2009, French police in Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
detained another three members of the gang seen loitering near jewellery shops in Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...
. 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
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
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.
External links
- The Pink Panthers, The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
, David Samuels, 2010 subscription article