Editor’s Note
This article details a high-value diamond heist at the 2011 Baselworld fair, attributed to the elusive Pink Panther gang. It highlights the group’s signature audacity and the immense value of their targets.
The Pink Panther gang specializes in jewel theft. The number of its members is unknown.
In March 2011, thieves made off with just four diamonds from the Basel Jewellery and Watch Fair. However, these were worth a total of 8.5 million Swiss francs. They acted in a “highly professional” manner, Basel public prosecutor Tomislav Hazler told Radio SRF. According to the indictment, the robbers had intensively scouted the booth during the fair’s setup phase. They managed to prepare a display case so that it was easier to open. During the act itself, the alleged ringleader of the gang distracted a booth employee with “extremely banal questions,” as stated in the indictment. Meanwhile, his accomplice targeted the manipulated display case.
It is a highly organized network of professionals with different skills.
For the diamond heist at the jewelry fair, for example, the perpetrators had obtained special exhibitor access badges. How they did this is unclear. Martin Winckel suspects that the Pink Panthers must also have specialist personnel in the background: loot like the four million-dollar diamonds cannot simply be resold.
The alleged main perpetrator was apprehended in Hungary in 2013. 2011 was not his first time in Basel: in 2010, he is said to have stolen jewelry worth around 300,000 Swiss francs at Baselworld.
The accused himself denies all allegations. He was not in Basel at the times of the crimes. That he bears a striking resemblance to the man filmed by the surveillance camera is not proof. “I have an ordinary face and am often mistaken for someone else.” He is an innocent family man who earns his money with a beach bar in Montenegro.
However, the consulted experts are of a different opinion. Precise image identification and 3D measurement have shown that the accused is “very likely” the man in the video. A DNA trace on the display case key also matches the DNA of the accused.
Despite the strictest security precautions, the Basel Jewellery and Watch Fair is naturally a honey pot for diamond thieves, like the 43-year-old man who must answer to the court president in Basel starting today.