From the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, November 29:
In a Europol-coordinated operation across three Balkan countries, police arrested 11 suspects, including a leader of the Pink Panthers. The operation came a day after Ecuadorian authorities arrested the so-called “Serbian Escobar.”
Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia arrested 11 people suspected of smuggling more than half a tonne of cocaine from South America into the European Union, the EU law enforcement agency Europol said Wednesday.
The criminal network is believed to have imported multi-tonne shipments of cocaine from Colombia through Brazil and Ecuador, Europol said.
In March 2021, authorities seized cocaine concealed in the modified floor of a cargo container at the Croatian port of Ploče. The shipment’s street value was estimated at 50 million euros ($52.8 million). Europol said the seizure highlighted a trend of international drug traffickers increasingly targeting smaller EU ports.
The arrests also shed light on the involvement of Balkan criminals in the global cocaine trade, as revealed by the takedown of encrypted communication platforms EncroChat, Sky ECC, and Anom.
The investigation has identified 18 suspects so far. Four are already in prison, and international warrants have been issued for three others, according to Europol.
Among those arrested Tuesday during the cross-border operation was a suspect identified by Serbian media as Dragan Mikić, allegedly the leader of the Pink Panthers, a notorious jewel-theft gang. Europol did not confirm the identity but said the suspect was involved in high-value thefts and escaped prison in the early 2000s....
....MUCH MORE
Previously on the jewel thieves:
July 2013 - 'Pink Panther' jewel thief breaks out of Swiss jail (340 robberies, 330 million euros [£280m] booty)
August 2019 - Pink Panthers—“A Stunning Coup”: The Almost Unsolvable Harry Winston Diamond Heists
And a couple prior mentions of the Pink Panthers:
How the Hell Did A Lone Bandit Steal $136 Million In Diamonds?
"Cannes Thief Nabs $53 Million Worth of Jewels and Diamonds"
And then there's always Gary Grant, Grace Kelly, French Riviera, directed by Hitchcock:
[1] Le Stuff: To Catch A Thief
From: "To Catch a Thief (1955) - locations"
Here's a side-by-side comparison of how the locations have changed
