Spanish Police Arrest 5 Alleged Members of Pink Panther Gang

(IDEX Online News) – Spanish police recently announced that it had arrested five alleged members of the “Pink Panther” gang of jewel thieves in the Catalan capital, Barcelona, according to a report on Reuters.com.

A special operations unit from the Catalan police apprehended the gang during an attempted robbery on Barcelona’s famous Passeig de Gracia avenue, in which one of the thieves was armed with a pistol. Police said they were able to recover the jewelry that the gang was attempting to steal.

This operation formed part of a larger investigation with other crime units in Spain, as well as collaboration with Serbian and German authorities.

The Pink Panther gang originally got their nickname following a 2003 London heist when a thief hid a diamond in a pot of beauty cream, which closely resembled a plot of one of the Pink Panther movies.

Interpol, the international crime-fighting agency, estimates the Pink Panther network has stolen more than €334 million ($370 million) worth of jewelry in more than 350 armed robberies between 1999 and 2015.