writes Despina Papageorgiou It was a robbery taken straight from the big screen. The robbers of the Louvre could easily have conversed, in another life, with Melina Mercouri – that theatrical Elizabeth Lipp of Top Kapi, who slipped with feline agility from the alarm to grab the sultan's emerald knife from the display case. Except that in the movie the robbery took place at night, under the conspiratorial silence of the Bosphorus.
In the Louvre, by contrast, the four attackers dared to rob one of the world's leading museums, on a Sunday morning, when it was bustling with visitors. Dressed as work-in-progress cover-ups outside a wing of the museum, they entered through a window, walked under the watchful eye of the statuesque Apollo and the French nobles in the portraits, then, just 250 meters from the Mona Lisa, set off alarms, smashed display cases and grabbed nine priceless jewels. In eight minutes.
In a well-staged finale, they escaped on two scooters waiting for them at the exit.
Their course of action made many wonder: Could it be them? The new generation of Pink Panthers, the most famous jewel robbers of the 21st century? The grandeur of the target, the lightning speed, the surgical precision, the disguise, all referred to them – the robbers who saw theft as an art.
Pink Panthers 'would never make mistakes like that'
The Louvre robbery evoked memories of another one in Venice in 2018. It was winter, and after crossing the iconic St. Mark's Square, the robbers entered the Doge's Palace as ordinary visitors, only to make off with treasures worth two to three million euros – jewels of the Maharajahs, now owned by the Qatari royal family. They didn't even break a window; they had disabled the alarm hours before. Shortly after, one of the perpetrators would be arrested in Serbia, and Interpol would confirm what everyone suspected: the Pink Panthers had struck again.
But the operation at the Louvre also brought to mind the robbery of the Harry Winston boutique in Paris in 2007, when four Pink Panthers had entered the store disguised as workers, when they had actually worked as such several days before the robbery in order to make the disguise look believable. They came out with luxury jewelry and watches, worth 37 million dollars.
However, the most "studied" observers remain cautious. The Louvre robbers made mistakes "that the inner circle of the original Pink Panthers would never have allowed to happen, such as dropping a fifth of the loot or leaving behind tools and clothing - and these allow for DNA detection in addition to fingerprints," commented Dr. Christos Tsirogiannis, director of the Working Group on Illicit Archaeological Objects at UNESCO headquarters, in a LinkedIn post. on Threats to Cultural Heritage.
Indeed, the list of finds showed sloppiness: two wheels, a lighter, a can of petrol, gloves, a radio, a blanket, a yellow vest – and the emerald and diamond-encrusted gold crown of the Empress Eminence of France, found thrown outside the museum.
The Pink Panthers would never do that. They may organize raucous robberies, but they protect the stolen goods in every way, even putting toilet paper in the bags they carry.
So were the Louvre robbers impersonators? And who are the Pink Panthers, who became a legend, turning their every beat into a choreography of unfathomable audacity rather than undeniable virtuosity?
The gangsters of crime
They were never simple robbers. The Pink Panthers moved with the ease of a feline and the silky air of movie legends. They chose their targets like empresses choose their precious tiaras: with taste, exaggeration, and the arrogance of those who believe nothing can touch them. They planned their operations with the precision that a diamond carves on glass; and they struck instantly, even in broad daylight, before disappearing again like shadows in the bustling crowd. Their unique imprint, the sui generis way of acting.
The story of the group that would become synonymous with the most legendary jewel heists on the planet begins in May 2003, in London. Members of the Pink Panthers enter a Graff jewelery store in Mayfair as wealthy customers. A Ferrari is waiting for them outside. Seconds later, at the threat of a Magnum 357, they smash through the display cases and collect what glitters: £23m worth of diamonds. It is the biggest diamond heist in British history.
In the ensuing manhunt, Nebjosa Denic is captured. Not long after, the police track down the hideout and find a blue diamond ring worth half a million inside a jar of face cream! Just like the scene in The Return of the Pink Panther with Peter Sellers. The "luxury robbers" had just acquired a name. Their "godfather", Scotland Yard.
80% of the loot would never be found.
Two years later, two men will get out of a chauffeur-driven limousine, walk into another Graff store in London and, at gunpoint, grab £10m worth of jewellery.
An organization that even James Bond would envy
The Pink Panthers are transforming into a global phenomenon. It is a hard-core bandit "fraternity" from the Balkans, born out of the wreckage of the former Yugoslavia. Many are war veterans and refugees.
Interpol credits them with over 370 robberies in 35 countries, with total loot exceeding half a billion dollars. The number of members remains unknown: the core is estimated to number around 40 people, while the wider network may reach as many as 800 accomplices.
They have potential with a range of skills that would be the envy of the world's top secret services. From counterfeiters and safecrackers to professional guides and gem artisans.
Former Interpol Secretary General Ron Noble has said that the Pink Panthers operate without a hierarchy. Unlike the mafia or cartels. In any business, no one knows who is next to them – it could be the second in command, it could be a rookie. Horizontal organization is their weapon. And when one member is arrested, another takes his place. Like the Lernaean Hydra.
Their trademark lightning strikes: Their heists last anywhere from 30 to a maximum of 90 seconds – the eight minutes of the Louvre robbery are among the reasons they are in doubt. In a few days, they have also disappeared from the country.
They work in groups of three to five. They enter the premises in a frenzy, brandishing hammers and axes, smashing windows and showcases, threatening with semi-automatic pistols – and here and there a grenade – and disappear in stolen Audis, sometimes on scooters and speedboats.
They only use violence to surprise and frighten, they don't want victims. As self-proclaimed founding member Rajco Causevic once said: “We were never violent. I'm a bandit, but a gentleman."
To track targets, they use impressive women, who move unnoticed in places where it is considered normal to wear expensive clothes and expensive jewelry. As was Olivera Serkovits, who played basketball on the Pagratio team - and her first action as a "Pink Panther" was to visit a large hotel jewelry store in the Cretan Peninsula, ostensibly to view jewelry, but in reality to map out the security systems, possible escape routes, and any information that would later be used in carrying out the robbery.
Before even starting to plan the business, an investor must be found to finance it. Then they secure apartments – one to live in, one empty to cover their tracks, and a secret one, known to only one person, where the loot is kept.
Blueberry vendors steal necklaces, cars jam malls
After the robberies in London, the Pink Panthers quickly spread their silk nets everywhere: in Belgium, Croatia, the French Riviera, Paris, Copenhagen, Las Vegas, Dubai, and even Greece.
In 2005, team members dress up in Hawaiian shirts, wear wigs, and mingle with wealthy vacationers in St. Tropez. Within minutes, they break into a jewelry store, grab everything that glitters, and escape in a waiting speedboat and air of James Bond.
That same year, in Amsterdam, seven men in ground staff uniforms smuggled 75 million euros worth of jewelery under the noses of Schiphol Airport security to a waiting aircraft. It took twelve years to capture them – two of them alleged members of the Pink Panthers.
In 2007, in Tokyo, they carry out "the biggest robbery in the history of Japan". They steal the famous Comtesse de Vendôme, a necklace with 116 diamonds, worth $31.6 million, and escape on bicycles. The perpetrators are later arrested – one of them “normally” was a blackberry dealer in Serbia. The necklace is never found.
That same year, Dubai turns into the scene of an action movie: two Audis are nailed to the facade of the Wafi Mall, three men break in, and within 45 seconds they make off with $3.4 million in loot.
The tactic is known as "vol au bélier" – robbery by embolism. Mall customers froze, bags in hand watching in awe. And as always, the Audis are stolen. If they use a car, it's an Audi because they know it well. To escape cinematically, you must be one with your vehicle.
The Wafi Mall robbery would go down in history as the perfect crime if it weren't for one small mistake: when they burned the cars to cover their tracks – which they usually do – they forgot to open a window. The lack of oxygen prevented total destruction, so police found DNA traces that led to Bosnian Dusko Poznan and Montenegrin Milan Lepoja, already wanted for robberies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
Interpol, which in 2007 went so far as to create a special Task Force for the Pink Panthers, played a key role in the arrest.
Diamonds Are Forever – The Pink Panthers?
But the Pink Panthers now had bigger ambitions.
In 2008, dressed in black and wearing masks, they entered a Zurich museum and carried out one of the biggest art heists in European history: paintings by Monet, Van Gogh, Cézanne and Degas disappeared from a Zurich museum.
Unlike some of the recovered paintings, the jewels are not easy to spot. This is because the precious gems are removed and "rebaptized" through a well-organized network: the mediator passes them across the border - usually to Antwerp - and the "broker" (fence) "legitimizes" them: recuts the gem, issues new certificates of origin (fakes) and re-circulates it on the market, collecting up to 30-40% of the value. One of the Pink Panthers who did this work told the Guardian: “They do the dirty work on the street. Without people like me, it would be nothing."
When it comes to the stolen Louvre jewels, however, it's not just a financial loss. They have historical value.
In their long history, the Pink Panthers have proven to be the directors of their own legend. They were not only stealing diamonds, but also some of their sparkle.
In recent years they seemed to have "retired".
Until the Louvre robbery, which made everyone jump: Was it the new generation of Pink Panthers – or some who, once again, tried to imitate them?
BY POPAGANDA
