[Ben Akiba]

Police: $53 million in jewels stolen in Cannes

"A staggering 40 million euro ($53 million) worth of diamonds and other jewels were stolen Sunday from the Carlton Intercontinental Hotel in Cannes, in one of Europe's biggest jewelry heists in recent years, police said.

The hotel in the sweltering French Riviera was hosting a temporary jewelry exhibit over the summer from the prestigious Leviev diamond house, which is owned by Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev.

A police spokesman said the theft took place around noon, but he could not confirm local media reports that the robber was a single gunman who stuffed a suitcase with the gems before making a swift exit. The spokesman spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter on the record.

...

Several brazen jewelry thefts have taken place this year, including one in Belgium on Feb. 18 that involved some $50 million worth of diamonds.

In that heist, the stones from the global diamond center of Antwerp had been loaded on a plane headed to Zurich when robbers dressed in dark police clothing and hoods drove through a hole they'd cut in the Brussels Airport fence in two black cars with blue police lights flashing. They drove onto the tarmac, approached the plane, brandished machine guns, offloaded the diamonds, then left in an operation that took barely five minutes.

In May, Cannes was struck by two highly publicized jewelry heists during the Cannes Film Festival.

In the first theft, robbers stole about $1 million worth of jewels after ripping a safe from the wall of a hotel room. The jewelry was taken from the Novotel room of an employee of Chopard, the Swiss-based watch and jewelry maker that has loaned bling to A-list stars walking the red carpet at the film festival.

And in the second, thieves outsmarted 80 security guards in an exclusive hotel and made off with a De Grisogono necklace that creators say is worth 2 million euros ($2.6 million.)

Jewel thieves have been getting attention in Europe in more ways than one.

On Thursday, a member of the notorious "Pink Panther" jewel thief gang escaped from a Swiss prison after accomplices rammed a gate and overpowered guards with bursts from their AK-47s, police said.

Milan Poparic fled with fellow inmate Adrian Albrecht from the Orbe prison in the western state of Vaud.

Police say the Pink Panthers network's members are prime suspects in a series of daring thefts. According to Interpol, the group has targeted luxury watch and jewelry stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States, netting more than €330 million (£285m) since 1999."

http://news.yahoo.com/police-53-million-...07329.html

That's a lot of hot babes to sponsor in Belgrade and Budva

[Ben Akiba]

So, who are the Pink Panthers?

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 termedsome of the most glamorous heists ever, and one criminologist even described their crimes as "artistry".

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.

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.

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.[5] Three men were suspected of being behind the theft; one was in possession of a firearm.[5] Graff had been targeted in 2002 and lost £23 million on that occasion, £3 million of which was 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 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 ensured 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 participating in at least two smash-and-grab jewellery robberies in Tokyo's Ginza district. The first, in 2004, netted ¥3.5 million in gems. The second, in June 2007, took jewellery 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.

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 from the store with items worth over $100 million (£60 million). There is growing speculation that the $65 million heist on 6 August 2009 of an exclusive London jewellery 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 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://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pink_Panthers

[Hispanic_Reasoning]

Dam, those serbs are good!

[SpiderKing]

G Manifesto is Serbian?

[Ben Akiba]

(07-28-2013 12:04 PM)SpiderKing Wrote:  

G Manifesto is Serbian?

Ha! A jewel thief who moves around from Biarritz to Tokyo!

What's even funnier is that there's slick Pink Panthers documentary opening in theaters on July 31st.
Is today's spectacular 53M heist their own cool promo for the movie?

Seriously, these cats have balls of reinforced steel.

Just look at their resume; for example, they go as white people to Japan which is an island populated with far east Asian people, and not only do they get away from the crime scene, they escape from the island no problem. Not once, but twice

Also the sheer audacity to break into high end shopping mall in Dubai with two cars, smash shit around, and so forcefully steal gold from Arabs in the middle of their Arab fiefdom is pretty out there.

Here's authentic video of their Dubai heist (it starts at 0:30 sec.) Hollywood has nothing on real life.

What's further impressive is that one cute hottie was part of that same dramatic Dubai operation, ha, ha.

Check out her Interpol page:

   

She is still at large six years later (presumably chillin' in Serbia somewhere)

http://www.interpol.int/%C2%B0%60en/layo...2007-34158

[Ben Akiba]

Hmm, this whole Cannes thing is quite intriguing.

On May 2nd of this year in his Dirty, Rotten Scoundrel: Cote d' Azur thread Vorkuta writes:

Last night I met a group of Serbian girls in the old town. The most attractive and cool collective bunch of women I have ever met and spoken to. More attractive than Russians and seemingly without the high bitch shields. If anyone wants to check out Belgrade sometime in the year I'm down for that trip. But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Two week later, on May 17th the Guardian newspaper reports:

It could have been the plot of a Hollywood blockbuster: a thief creeps into a Cannes hotel room after dark and effortlessly makes off with over $1m worth of jewels destined to be worn by stars on the red carpet of the film festival... A safe box containing more than £660,000 worth of jewellery by the exclusive Swiss jeweller and watchmaker Chopard was removed from the wall of a room at the Suite Novotel.

The last paragraph of this report reads:

Chopard itself recorded around £6m worth of jewels stolen from its flagship Paris store in 2009 by a man in his 50s who casually walked in wearing a suit and Borsalino-style hat, passing himself off as a customer before pulling out a handgun. He was suspected to be part of an international gang known as the Pink Panthers. The stolen jewellery has never been recovered.

See where I'm going with this?

What if the girl from the Interpol page isn't actually chilling' in Serbia, but keepin' busy in Cannes?



Say Vorkuta,

did any of those Serbian girls you've met on Cote d'Azur back in May looked maybe like this (six-seven years older)?



Ha, ha that would be really freaking funny.

[Icarus]

A couple of articles on the Pink Panthers:

• Pink Panthers' global trail glitters with jewels (2008)
  

• Serbian jewel thieves: in search of the Pink Panthers (2010)
  

From the GQ article:

Quote:

While Milan went to Belgrade for university, Bojana, who was five years younger, quietly immersed herself in scholastic pursuits. At the elite magnate high school named for Stevan Sinđelić, a 19th century Serbian national hero who fought against the invading Turks, she racked up high marks, especially in physics, music, history, computer studies, and did particularly well in civics.

Bojana was "a teenage boy's dream for prom night," said one of her former teachers, who asked to stay anonymous. "But she didn't stand out from the crowd. Have you looked around? Half the girls here are very beautiful." Four years ago, Bojana appeared at her fifth high school reunion. "And she was the same as when she was a student: an open personality but only if you approached her. Very popular with the boys. I asked her about law school but apparently she decided not to finish it. Such a quiet girl: I could never imagine she would take this path."

Another teacher remembered her as "a decent person, polite, good at school." The teacher looked shocked when I showed him Bojana's Interpol wanted poster for jewellery heists, including the Dubai robbery. "But I just ran into her maybe a year ago on the street," he protested. "She smiled and was relaxed and looked beautiful. She was happy to see me." The teacher took a long pause. "You could see she had money. She looked elegant, like a lady. She told me she now runs a fitness club in Belgrade."

[muc]

(07-28-2013 01:33 PM)Ben Akiba Wrote:  

Here's authentic video of their Dubai heist (it starts at 0:30 sec.) Hollywood has nothing on real life.

Hey, thanks for the YouTube-links. Isn't the German one the same as advertised in the trailer though?

[Ben Akiba]

(07-28-2013 04:04 PM)muc Wrote:  

Hey, thanks for the YouTube-links. Isn't the German one the same as advertised in the trailer though?

I wasn't watching further as I don't speak German.

Here's something in French as well.

And this is how the atrium of that Dubai shopping mall looked post-coitus:

[muc]

I'm still watching.. Good documentary. I just wonder why the crooks always meet in Hamburg. There's heist guys, drug-dealers, prostitution guys, even Al Qaeda terrorists. What is the police doing all day..

[LeBeau]

Great thread and contributions from everyone.

Anyone have links to either of the 2 docs posted above, but in English?

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

Anyone else thinks it's ridiculous that one of these guys finally gets caught and gets sentenced to only 15 years?

[Ubietza]

(07-29-2013 02:26 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Anyone else thinks it's ridiculous that one of these guys finally gets caught and gets sentenced to only 15 years?

What's so ridiculous? No one was hurt. You're just hating because they're Serbs. If I were in charge, I'd give the guy a fucking gold medal. Stealing jewels from Israeli billionaires and from Arabs... the things legends are made of. Makes me proud to be Balkanoid.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

Quote:

You're just hating because they're Serbs.

That doesn't make any sense.

Causing that much property damage surely can be scaled up because it destabilizes the entire system of trade. Someone who blew up an empty building wouldn't get a pass just because no people were killed. Also, there is no proof (nor even mere indication) that they are playing Robin Hood with the stolen gems.

That said, they might be intentionally restrained with gunfire so not to kill anyone, because that would cause much more outrage.

[pitt]

(07-29-2013 02:26 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Anyone else thinks it's ridiculous that one of these guys finally gets caught and gets sentenced to only 15 years?

Did they get caught?

But yeah, 15 yrs is a low sentence. Fuck, you talking about 53 millions, you get away with that shit, you will never have to work again. If that is the sentence that you get for such robbery then i guess more people will attempt such big robberies.

[Chrysalis]

God damnit, I'm Serb, and they didn't invite me to the party!

[Ubietza]

(07-29-2013 02:59 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Quote:

You're just hating because they're Serbs.

That doesn't make any sense.

Causing that much property damage surely can be scaled up because it destabilizes the entire system of trade. Someone who blew up an empty building wouldn't get a pass just because no people were killed. Also, there is no proof (nor even mere indication) that they are playing Robin Hood with the stolen gems.

That said, they might be intentionally restrained with gunfire so not to kill anyone, because that would cause much more outrage.

Yes, it does: you're Croat. I have no problems with Serbs nor Croats, but I know your guys' attitudes towards each other.

Well, see, I come from the position that I don't give a fuck about anything pertaining to this 'system,' and hence my viewpoint. Not the healthiest Weltanschauung, but so be it. They pulled this shit off in the decadent West, anyhow, so all the better.

I'm not saying they're Robin Hoods: maybe Serbian girls are just expensive to sponsor.

[Ubietza]

(07-29-2013 03:02 AM)pitt Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 02:26 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Anyone else thinks it's ridiculous that one of these guys finally gets caught and gets sentenced to only 15 years?

Did they get caught?

But yeah, 15 yrs is a low sentence. Fuck, you talking about 53 millions, you get away with that shit, you will never have to work again. If that is the sentence that you get for such robbery then i guess more people will attempt such big robberies.

Anders Breivek got 21 years for killing 70+ people in Norway. I'd say 15 years is too much for a robbery. Lee Murray, an ex-UFC fighter, got put-away for much longer than 15 years for pulling off the biggest cash heist of all time around 8 years ago or so in England.

[Handsome Creepy Eel]

Quote:

maybe Serbian girls are just expensive to sponsor.

Great one

Nope, I can see why one would expect national tension, but I really have no problem with Serbs. There is a famous general (who was a successful robber before the war) here in Croatia whom I also don't like.

Anyways, I can see where you're coming from, but I think that the current society simultaneously has far too strict punishments on tiny crimes (like drug posesssion or small-amount tax evasion...) and far too lenient punishments on huge crimes (like murder, high-level corporate crime like Bernie Madoff, etc). While stealing half a billion dollars might not be on the same level as murder (though possibly only by accident), I still think it's a huge crime that deserves a huge punishment.

My complaint is about the society losing the sense of scale what constitutes a serious crime and what doesn't.

While we're on the topic of Serbs and Croats, think of various war criminals from the recent war getting puny sentences like 5-10 years... for crimes like massacring civilians and directly overseeing the same. At Nuremberg trials, most people were quickly hanged for such crimes. Nowadays, they get to clown around and then enjoy a leisurely vacation in a prison better equipped than 90% of homes in Croatia and Serbia. Same with war criminals from Congo, Ivory Coast...

[Cattle Rustler]

(07-29-2013 02:26 AM)Handsome Creepy Eel Wrote:  

Anyone else thinks it's ridiculous that one of these guys finally gets caught and gets sentenced to only 15 years?

The only western countries that actually punish crime are the UK and the USA, the US taking the title for throwing the key away. The rest then to more of a "rehabilitation" mantra rather than "jail them and throw away the key".

(07-29-2013 03:06 AM)Ubietza Wrote:  

I'm not saying they're Robin Hoods: maybe Serbian girls are just expensive to sponsor.

That could be one of the factors, most of the croat women I know are expensive to maintain....clubbing+cars+LV+home+fb-photo-whoring-to-the-world adds up.

[muc]

How is 15 years a low sentence? That's 15 years of your life in jail. heh

[Cattle Rustler]

(07-29-2013 03:33 AM)muc Wrote:  

How is 15 years a low sentence? That's 15 years of your life in jail. heh

The US would have given you 20 to life, some states would consider life in prison for using guns and committing "three strikes".

Pretty good return-on-investment in my opinion.

[muc]

(07-29-2013 03:48 AM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 03:33 AM)muc Wrote:  

How is 15 years a low sentence? That's 15 years of your life in jail. heh

The US would have given you 20 to life, some states would consider life in prison for using guns and committing "three strikes".

Pretty good return-on-investment in my opinion.

In the US the penal system is a business, right? No wonder then.
I think 15 years is as good a deterrent as 20 or 30 years. It's your entire prime spent behind bars.

But hey, I'm European. I don't understand many things the U.S. does.

[Cattle Rustler]

(07-29-2013 03:51 AM)muc Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 03:48 AM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

(07-29-2013 03:33 AM)muc Wrote:  

How is 15 years a low sentence? That's 15 years of your life in jail. heh

The US would have given you 20 to life, some states would consider life in prison for using guns and committing "three strikes".

Pretty good return-on-investment in my opinion.

In the US the penal system is a business, right? No wonder then.
I think 15 years is as good a deterrent as 20 or 30 years. It's your entire prime spent behind bars.

But hey, I'm European. I don't understand many things the U.S. does.

The private prison system is exploding, companies build and staff jails, pay politicians to make almost anything a crime and raise sentences for existing crimes, jails get full, and repeat the cycle. Due to the recession, it has stopped a little but cocaine possession = jail time (at least in Texas).

After you get out, no one will give you a job but US society expects you to get a job and never commit another crime.

You're right though, 15 years is a pretty good deterrent. It will at least make people think twice about committing a crime. We don't understand them either, we just do them because of "profit and capitalism".

[funkyzeit]

Actually they are all from Bosnia (see the primary nationality of the girl). Still, that's some Ocean's Eleven shit right there.