Police arrest suspected ‘Pink Panther’ jewel robber: Interpol

LYON, France - Police in Montenegro arrested a suspected member of the Pink Panthers, a gang accused of robbing jewels worth hundreds of millions of Euros in heists worldwide, Interpol said Tuesday.

The France-based cross-border police organization said the suspect was Bojan Vuckovic, a 24-year-old Serbian wanted in Austria for the armed robbery of a jewellery shop in Vienna in November 2008.

Vuckovic was arrested “during a check by Montenegro police at the Montenegrin-Serbian border, after they identified him on the basis of nominal information supplied by Austrian authorities,” Interpol said in a statement.

Interpol has an international cell set up specially to bust the Pink Panthers, whom it suspects of stealing jewels worth more than 250 million Euros (330 million dollars) in numerous heists worldwide over the past decade.

Vuckovic’s is “the latest in a series of arrests of Pink Panther suspects in recent years by police worldwide working in liaison with Interpol’s Pink Panthers Project, including high-profile arrests in Cyprus, France and Monaco.”