“Pink Panthers”: Two Serbians who “riffied” jewelry stores were arrested after an episodic chase

Two Serbs, members of the infamous “Pink Panthers” gang, who “robbed” jewelry stores, fell into the hands of the Security after an episodic pursuit in the center of Athens.

As emerged from the months-long investigation, the defendants aged 50 and 53 systematically committed thefts in jewelry stores in the center of Athens using the “rififi” method. So far, two cases have been identified, while communication with the international prosecution authorities confirmed that they were members of the transnational criminal group, with the code name “Pink Panthers”.

This criminal network (Pink Panthers) has all the characteristics that distinguish well-structured and highly active transnational criminal organizations and is, according to INTERPOL and EUROPOL, structured within the framework of Transnational Criminal Groups and Organizations of the Balkan countries.

These groups are made up of people coming from the countries of the former Yugoslav Republic and present an international action, mainly targeting jewelry stores, in which they commit either thefts or robberies, in different ways and methods depending on the skills, techniques and abilities of their members. like nuclei in each country.

These groups usually operate in small autonomous business centers in each country, in which only compatriots (Serbia, Montenegro, etc.) who have permanent residence in the country where the jewelry store is located participate.

They are professional thugs, out of work and throughout their attacks, they use autopsy and shop surveillance tactics that they have targeted even several days before the ‘hit’.

For their movements, they use forged or falsified documents, while they travel separately and in different ways to avoid the possibility of being arrested together. For their road trips, they use either vehicles with foreign license plates from different countries or vehicles from the respective country, which are registered in the names of other people, usually with a clean criminal record.

The members of the specific groups are usually people with a lot of experience in the specific activity internationally and people who have also engaged the international authorities.

The “hits” in Athens

It is worth mentioning that they were identifying their target stores, carrying out surveillance of them and then drawing up their plan of action in order to enter them and remove jewelry and gold.

Subsequently, they apparently had the proper channeling network for the stolen items, reaping a great financial benefit. The approach to jewelry stores was made in the evening hours.

In one case moving on foot, while in the other, they approached the area by car, which they parked several meters away, thus avoiding their connection with the car and their discovery.

The choice of jewelry stores was not accidental, since in both cases there was an abandoned building right next to it, which the perpetrators initially entered, thus avoiding being noticed by any person, since these were buildings that had no visitors. A very basic characteristic of this group was the way of breaking. In particular, the individuals proceeded to break into the jewelry stores using the “rififi” method, i.e. opening a hole in the wall between the abandoned building and the jewelry store, through which they entered the store. Inside the stores, only one of the perpetrators entered, who initially crawled on the floor, thus managing not to activate the alarm’s motion detectors and removing the jewelry-gold.

Finally, in both cases, at the point of the adjacent jewelry shops where the perpetrators opened the hole, they placed pieces of fabric on the floor, apparently to minimize the noise from the pieces of the wall falling to the floor. After completing their actions, they would exit the abandoned buildings and walk away, carrying the bags of loot with them.

Characteristic of the attention they showed but also of the professionalism that distinguishes them, is the repeated surveillance of jewelry stores – targets which they wanted to break into. In this way, they observed the conditions prevailing in the area thus minimizing the possibility of being noticed. Also, all their sightings took place in the evening hours when the shops were closed and the commercial traffic was busy. At noon on April 24, police officers from the Property Crimes Department spotted the two Serbs walking on Aristotelous Street in the area of ​​the center of Athens and after declared their status, tried to carry out a police check. Then the first one, disobeying the policemen’s orders, tried to escape, but stopped a few meters down. During his arrest, he strongly resisted by pushing the police officers, but he was arrested and taken to our Service. The second, when asked by the police about his details, showed an obviously fake driving license issued by the Croatian authorities, which bore his photo. In an investigation carried out at his home on Aristotelous Street in Athens, the following were found and confiscated:

1. Lot of hand burglary tools,
2. three watches,
3. Ten gold and silver jewels.

Two jewelry stores

From the investigation, it appears that the members of the criminal organization have committed two burglaries of jewelry stores:

At 05:4 on 29-12-2023, they broke into a jewelry store located on Kolokotroni street in Athens, using the “rififi” method, from where they removed a large amount of jewelry and gold, the total value of which is 169,000 euros.

At 06:07 on 21-03-2024, they broke into the jewelry store located in Omonia square using the “rififi” method and took away a lot of jewelry and gold jewelry, the total value of which is 147,000 euros. The defendants have repeatedly engaged the Police Authorities for similar offences.