Member of “Pink Panthers”, Europe’s most feared jewelry thief organization, arrested in Núñez

This Tuesday, the Interpol division of the federal police captured a prominent criminal born in Montenegro accused of being a member of the formidable international organization of jewelry thieves “Pink panthers“. The man was a fugitive from justice because he was under sentence of 15 years in prison in France. He was also wanted for a flight to Milan.

It is Zvjezdan Begic. Dreaded thief of Montenegrin descent entered country through triple border, confirmed Infobae Interpol sources, with a false passport of the European Union. Once he crossed the border, he moved to Buenos Aires and forged his Argentinian DNI. He lived in an apartment located at the intersection of Avenida Del Libertador and Avenida Ramallo, in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Núnez, where he was arrested.

According to the charge against him, Begic belongs to the well-known band of jewelry thieves “Pink Panthers», A band of criminal experts who were responsible for at least 130 jewelry thefts where tens of millions of dollars were taken. The man has been wanted by the French courts for 2005 and by the Italian of 2017.

“Pink panthers“Is an organization composed entirely of citizens of the former Yugoslavia. The specialty of the dreaded group is the theft of jewelry in Western Europe, to resell it later in the Eastern zone. They have been suspected of operating since at least 2003, the year they got the nickname of a thief in the middle of a theft in London. hid a diamond in a jar of beauty cream, similar to the plot in one of the Pink Panther movies about an incompetent French detective played by actor Peter Sellers.

Members of the organization, mostly former members of the Forces Armed which defected when Yugoslavia was dissolved, operates as a flexible network around 200 people whose works are known for their precision and minimal violence. They usually dress up as golfers or police officers. Cannes, Phone, Singapore Yes Dubai are some of the cities that have fallen victim to its most significant attacks.

Yes indeed, Begic is wanted for two specific assaults that investigators attribute to him. The first dates back to 2005, when Begic and a colleague allegedly walked into a jewelry store in the city Holy–Tropez, in France. There they completed the task and took the sum of two million euros worth of jewelry. After the flight, the Montenegrin, born in the capital of the country, Padgorica, escaped aboard a boat destination unknown, while the French police stopped by his side and observed how he fled with the booty without being able to do anything.

The man came back to act 2017 and in other country. This time the assault occurred in the Italian town of Milan. Begic and two companions entered the “Paradiso Luxery” jewelry store armed and emptied it: They took 20 Rolex watches, two bracelets worth 200,000 euros each, and escaped.

After being identified during the thefts, Begic learned that he was intensely wanted by Interpol and various European police officers. Thus, according to an investigation, the man entered the country by the triple border with a false passport of the European Union and settled in the city of Buenos Aires. Here he forged his Argentinian DNI and lived in a luxury apartment on Avenida Del Libertador in Núnez.

There, it is that the agents of InterpolAfter a painful investigation that lasted a year of follow-up, he found him and clarified his arrest yesterday morning. After his arrest, Judge Sebastián Casanello, head of Federal Tribunal No. 7, was in charge of him, who will have to initiate extradition procedures.

KEEP READING: