A member of the “Pink Panthers”, a mythical gang that steals jewelry in Europe, lived in Argentina

The “Pink panthers” is a legendary criminal organization of ex Yugoslavia which has over 200 members – most of them ex-soldiers. He is dedicated to the theft of jewelry around the world, but especially in Europe. One of its members, with international capture order from Italy and France, has been living in Argentina for several years.

Zvjezdan Begic, 46 years old and of Montenegrin origin, he used a false identity: he called himself Eduardo René Diaz and claimed to be seven years younger. A continuation of the Federal Investigations of Fugitives and Argentinian Federal Police Extraditions Division (PFA) located it in the neighborhood of Buenos Aires in Núñez.

The fugitive was arrested this Tuesday April 20 at Avenue Libertador at 8000. Among his clothes he wore the Argentine DNI and even driving license with the same false name. In his power too They found money in different countries: 57,600 Argentinian pesos, 870 euros, 2,134 US dollars, 2,000 guaraníes and 100 bolivianos.

About Begic he weighed a red double circular from Interpol for crimes committed in France and Italy. According to sources, the fugitive had been sentenced in Paris to 15 years in prison for the assault on the Julian jewelry store, arrived on August 30, 2005 in the center of Saint Tropez, in a shot that only lasted a minute and 15 seconds and in which they managed to make a looting of two million euros of jewelry. In 2017, his name reappeared linked to the crime when an armed group attacked a Milanese jewelry store. Nothing has been heard from him since.

The most important broker of the Calabrian mafia had an Argentinian passport

<< Les tâches d'enquête ardues effectuées par le personnel de police pour déterminer d'éventuelles relations avec sa famille, des amis ou des connaissances dans le pays ont permis d'établir qu'il serait caché dans le quartier de Buenos Aires à Núñez >> explained from the PFA, in a press release.

According to police sources, Begic was at the disposal of the National Criminal and Federal Correctional Court No. 7, in charge of Sebastián Casanello, who will now have to define his extradition.

The Pink Panthers banda

According to police reports, the “Pink Panthers” are made up of around 200 members, mostly Serbs, Croats, Montenegrins and Bosnians, many of them have military experience. The name of this organization is directly linked to Blake Edwards’ film, “The Pink Panther” (The Pink Panther), in which the main character is a thief trying to steal the most precious diamond in the world.

We suspect that since 2003 they have stolen jewelry with an estimated value of around 200 million euros, in hits recorded in at least twenty countries.

The story of the fugitive arrested in Argentina is more than curious: has a professional basketball background. In 2005, after the millionaire coup in Saint Tropez, he called his wife to save her the newspapers that recounted the details of the theft.

Begic is believed to have escaped to Belgrade in Serbia, then passed through Brazil and eventually reached Bosnia, where he was arrested in July 2006, although he was released shortly after because authorities local authorities rejected France’s extradition request.