Smash & Grab - The Story of the Pink Panthers Storyville

This programme contains some strong language some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

CAR REVS

TYRES SCREECH

TYRES SCREECH

Now, they're known as the Pink Panthers.

They're a gang that steals jewels

from high-end stores all over the world.

And one of their alleged members...

Armed with this Magnum revolver and helped by an accomplice, he pounced.

We are talking about an international criminal group

made up of more than 200 people.

They are organised in independent cells

and they live in different countries.

These are all people from the former Yugoslavia.

The core of the group comes from Montenegro.

There is another substantial group from Serbia.

CAR HORN BEEPS

One of the Panthers said that every robbery that is lasting

more than 22 seconds is a great risk.

CAR HORN BEEPS AGAIN

There's no alarm, no security system, they can be good,

that cannot be broken.

Two hours, you're in another country and you are safe.

That's what I like, you know.

I have a lot to tell you about these robberies and there were many.

But the best job I've did was in Spain.

We waited for a festival that was about to take place

and we waited a long time.

It was some kind of a religious thing, fiesta -

music, dancing.

Some kind of noise that they couldn't hear us banging through the walls.

And now the action could begin.

PHONE DIALS

PHONE RINGS

My name is Novak, you know, and people call us Pink Panthers.

HE LAUGHS

And English people, they call us, because of the film.

I read somewhere that one inspector, I don't know where,

he said that we are terrorists or something like that.

Modern terrorists, but it's not true.

I mean, we are just taking something unimportant for rich people,

for us - who doesn't have that, you know?

HE LAUGHS

We started with some houses, you know,

some cars and something like that.

But jewelleries, we find out, is much easier.

Jewellery's small, it's expensive, it gets you more money.

We can be in China, we can be in Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai.

Wherever they have rich stuff, we can be there.

ALARM BLARES

SEAGULLS SQUAWK

Here, we are really in the middle of the old town of Geneva.

And there you have all the...all the biggest jewelleries

with million and million of stuff in the windows.

There you have Chatila...

This jewellery was attacked by the Pinks in 2009.

That mean they enter by this door and after that,

there were, in this road, two scooter...

You say scooter in English?

..were waiting and when they finished the robberies,

they jump on the scooter and they leave the place.

Gubelin was attacked one or two times by the Pinks.

Graff - Graff Geneva...

..De Grisogono, Chopard, Adler...

About the statistics or numbers,

approximately we have 500 cases

of robberies and burglaries

made by the Pinks.

Speaking about the value of all the robberies,

approximatively 300 millions of US dollars.

If you take all their crimes together,

they are the best jewellery thieves in the world.

I know, but like you say, it's a Pink Panther!

And there are colleagues who give me that one or two years ago.

They were involved in a case we began here and they work on.

And they find this big Pink Panther

and they bring it here.

And it's a joke between all the teams in Europe

-working on the Pink Panthers.

-PHONE RINGS IN BACKGROUND

-PRODUCER:

-Can you tell me, when did you first hear of the Pink Panthers?

It was in 2000. At the beginning, it was different.

For me, it was different as the other teams

about the organisation - it was more organised.

The action was very, very fast, when they come.

SPEECH NOT AUDIBLE

'They have made a lot of robberies, so that mean when they come,

'they are confident, they are sure about "what I have to do".

'The preparation is very, very good.

'That means they come sometimes some months before

'to try to find which jewellery they are going to attack.

'And after that, to know exactly how they are going to work,

'how many people they need to be in there,

'how they are going to escape.

'And after that, they do the robbery.

'Sometimes, working on bad guys,'

there is something very particular, very special, between...

there is a respect but, at the same time, it is like a game.

They know that we are hunting them.

Because it's a little bit like that

from Pacino and De Niro in the film.

It was like that, but they are always movies.

They are not the reality. That's...

We just must remember that they are bad guys

going inside jewellery with guns.

'We understood in this time that they were able to do things, incredible,

'that nobody had done before.'

The first time, we didn't know that they were Pink Panthers.

You know, this name did not exist, at this time.

The first time, we just think it was

one robbery or two robberies, that's all.

We did not identify, the first time, the importance of the group.

It was a challenge

cos they are crossing the borders very fast,

after the robbery - very easily.

We started to understand that it was a group.

The only thing we know - that they were coming from former Yugoslavia.

So that's all we had, the first time. And so we started to identify

the different city they were coming from in former Yugoslavia -

especially Montenegro, from Cetinje.

Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia.

Few Americans know little, if anything, about Yugoslavia.

One reason is because not many people know where to find it.

Actually, it's really quite simple - just go to Italy and make a right.

Yugoslavia.

A popular misconception about Yugoslavia is that

it is a neighbouring country of the Soviet Union. In actuality,

it borders seven European countries,

none of them being Russia.

A bigger misconception than the location, though,

is the country itself.

When most Americans think of Yugoslavia,

this is not what comes to mind...

..or this...

..or this...

..or even this.

DOG BARKS IN THE DISTANCE

'The first time I heard about Panthers were in 2004.

'It was a surprise.

'And my first thought when newspapers published'

that the perpetrators were three Serbs,

I said, "Fuck! This is all we needed."

My second thought, however, was, "Hmm, interesting.

"How very skilful people."

Because I didn't know how they did it.

Well, before 2000, we don't have Pink Panthers.

Some people started with so big and exclusive heists...

..mostly in Europe, only Europe.

And after it, we have some of the Panthers robbed out of Europe.

They went to Bahrain.

They went to Japan. They went to Dubai.

I'm working right now for BIRN,

Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

And, at the moment, I am looking for Pink Panthers, like I'm mad.

I'm working for more than two years on this.

At first, I didn't believe it was possible to find any of them.

Why would any say, "Look, I'm Pink Panther, I'm going to help you"?

So that required a lot of work, a lot of travelling,

a lot of phone calls...

..finding sources on the places you would never believe you can find them.

That usually meant being on the road all the time,

travelling to the region all the time,

meeting all kinds of people all the time.

I must talk to dozens of different people,

all kinds of people,

meet them, be ready to meet them at any time.

You must make them trust you -

that you are not going to talk to the police,

that you are not going to put any of them in danger.

If you know, when you do something

so extraordinary which attracts the attention of the whole world

and many people say, "Bravo, you robbed the bigger criminals."

Well, that can light some fire inside. I believe so.

OK, so if we start with...

Could he just introduce himself?

OK, Mike, so we've agreed that we will record this interview,

but not show your face.

So, we'll use your real words but we'll animate you and your voice.

No face. Not my real voice.

So, tell me, who are the Pink Panthers?

Well, I don't have a badge that says Pink Panther on it.

We are a network of teams working together

and as I was involved, I became part of the network.

Everybody has their specific job to do, understand?

So we all depend on each other.

Those in the inner circle are called family.

But you have guys who don't know who their bosses or associates are.

You have to be in with them for a long time dealing with these

kind of bigger jobs.

You get tips from your own supervisor,

but there is also a wider chain of command.

You never know where you stand in the hierarchy,

because you never meet the boss.

You don't know this guy is the big boss. There's no such thing.

No big boss.

You need a brain, knowledge.

And experience to do this work.

This means the jobs that we do and the other gangs that do sex, drugs,

murder, they rarely cross over.

So, tell me, what is it about the diamond?

I don't know why people spend money on diamonds.

I don't suffer from this showing off.

I have a Rolex, but as a souvenir.

But diamonds, nah, they don't attract me.

For me, diamonds mean good cash.

Nothing else.

Not anyone can do this job. You must be born to do it.

You must firstly trust in yourself...

..because if you are weak, you can't do it.

Women in the Panthers have to be...exceptional.

Exceptional.

I was extremely good looking.

30kgs less.

I had long red hair at the time.

Although I had frequent transformations, very frequent.

I would be sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette.

You can only have one in each gang.

And we have high requirements for the women.

They have the leading roles.

They have to do the main job, so they do the scouting,

they enter, they record and they bring the plan.

That means the woman has to be intelligent,

she has to be beautiful and she has to love money.

The guys do a great majority of jobs.

But they also need a woman on their team.

Everyone always thinks it's the men, men, men.

But without woman nothing would be done.

Lela has to be dressed in most expensive clothes, you know?

Most elegant clothes, wearing expensive jewellery.

Also to have her own chauffeur. She had to act exactly like Madonna.

I had to look very powerful. It was stuff by Burberry, then Chanel.

Whatever was in and whatever was popular.

I wouldn't even know some of the brands that existed.

But the stuff purchased, it was well known that it was very expensive.

THUNDER RUMBLES

ALARM BLARES

So, how did it all begin?

In the beginning it was individuals. Small shops, casinos.

We went where there was money, gold.

And eventually, jobs got bigger and better.

When I was in Italy, I worked with this guy from Kosovo.

Like his apprentice.

He could open a safe in two minutes.

We were together for four years

and by the end, I could open a cat in no time.

-What's the cat?

-The cat, we call a cat, the safe.

Jewellery is like a magnet for crime.

It's worth a lot and the crooks want it. Hello, I'm Mike for...

Jewellery crime is big business,

often run by organised criminals who won't hesitate to use violence

in the city, suburbs or out in the country.

Jewellery crime causes 1.1 billion in losses each year

from all sources, including consumers.

But in most stores,

most of the jewellery does end up here at closing time,

and even though it's not as common as you might think,

the safe is still a target.

I have a lot to tell you about these robberies,

and there were many, but the best job I did was in Spain.

Perfect plan.

The jewellery shop was a perfect target.

It was a beautiful boutique, you know.

Very high class.

There was, in this city, a most beautiful jewellery shop.

Everything with diamonds. Rings with diamonds, bracelets, necklaces.

Very beautiful.

Jewellery rarely achieves that kind of sparkle, very rarely,

but we had no access, no access at all.

So we had to do it in a different way.

We tried many ways.

We had different ideas about the job

and then, finally, we had the idea - just to hire a shop next door.

Next to the jewellery shop was the souvenir shop.

In order to get to the jewellery shop,

we needed to go through this second shop first.

She met the Spanish shop owner and befriended him.

She had to lure the guy into a trap.

I didn't go to seduce him,

but my very appearance contributed to his joy.

He employed me at his place.

Not to work, because I couldn't speak the language well enough,

but to oversee things.

She had to do a good job because we needed to gain his trust.

Of course, her beauty helped.

He thought they could get closer, that they would be

together every day.

Well, I don't see why I should feel guilty.

It is his problem that he fell in love with me

and that my presence brought him lots of pleasure.

I couldn't do anything about that.

So when she was there, she examined the wall,

which gave us an idea that we could knock it down

and where we could exit...

..which way we could run.

She was there so she could scan

and find that information,

see if the plan would be possible.

The reason why I spent a lot of time with the Spanish guy was so that

I could observe exactly when the jewellery shop closed -

when would it open, when they would go out for a coffee,

for how long they would be out.

Generally, it was all about them.

In fact, I'm the most important part of the job, and I'm aware of that.

My one mistake would be their fall,

so if I make an error somewhere, they are doomed.

Tell me about your life growing up in Yugoslavia.

I'm from the border of Montenegro and Albania, actually.

I'm 48. My father was born Muslim and a communist.

Tito.

He was our idol.

APPLAUSE

Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia declared

the Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945.

People now remember of that period like the golden age.

He was a very authoritarian ruler.

He liked his position.

But he also had a strong sense of what is necessary to do.

Yugoslavia...

was made by many different nations, different religions,

different ethnic groups - we had more than 20 ethnic groups here,

and I believe it was very hard to put them all together,

and keep that country alive.

SINGING

As kids, you know, I had in my class

alongside Gypsy and other, Albanian, Croatian...

Germans, Jews, Muslims.

It was really amazing.

I only got my first passport when I was 16 or 17,

but I couldn't wait for the summer.

In May, the first tourists would come.

Germans, French, Italian and English would come too

and they would go swim naked.

I would sell them Coke and beer.

Wherever there was an opportunity to peek, to watch naked women,

I would sit down to watch.

My first love was this German woman.

I'm still thinking of her now.

That's how I actually got to learn my German.

See how it's all coming back.

As a young girl, I lived in Dimitrovgrad.

It was a small house where my grandmother lived.

BELL TOLLS

But my aunt came for me and my life continued in Hamburg, in Germany.

GERMAN MUSIC PLAYS

I had a wonderful time, wonderful.

This is something that remains stamped in my memory.

I was taken by the extravagance and luxury there was.

I thought, "I will become something and somebody in my life."

I couldn't go out that much, as my aunt was a very strict woman.

She was working in Yugoslav restaurant and she got me

a job to wash dishes and to work at the bar.

I had a chance to meet all kinds of people,

and that's how I met my boyfriend.

I was still a child, 17 years old,

and there was some kind of chemistry between us.

And after that, he started giving me all kinds of gifts,

perfumes, necklaces, bracelets, and so we got together.

SHE SPEAKS GERMAN

Ladies and gentlemen, we would like to inform you about a few

things that will be of interest to you during the flight.

I was in love and I was doing everything just to be with him.

It was arranged that we all go to Spain,

but this was where everything was clear to me -

this was a criminal job that he was doing.

When he confessed, I wasn't bothered with it at all.

In fact, I asked him to introduce me to his job so I can be closer to him.

THUNDER RUMBLES

I was very anxious, nervous, I wanted to do it,

but in that moment, I thought to myself, "How am I going to?"

Somewhere in the back of my mind I was afraid, but I never showed it.

I would go all or nothing.

And I became the scout, I entered the shop, I recorded where everything is,

I told them.

Lela would then simply enter the boutique,

and she would register everything, solely with her eyes...

..where everything is, the distances, how far things are,

what she thinks can be done, to what extent, who is there...

how many of them, how many cameras.

Every single detail, she has to cover.

It is only a woman who can do this job properly.

A man would stick out too much.

She can ask for a necklace, she can ask for a ring.

I had a very large hat. I looked like a real lady.

And I had that ring.

That ring was very expensive.

And I told them that I lost weight and that I came for them

to make it smaller.

While they were doing this, I had plenty of time to assess

and check out everything around me.

I couldn't see the safe, we call the safe the kitten,

I couldn't locate it, but everything else I had to assess.

When I would go back home, there was

a man who would sketch it all

based on my story.

He drew it all.

The woman didn't take part in the action.

She gave us the key, gave us information

and her part of the job is finished.

Most of the time, I felt strong,

but I sometimes had a feeling that I was drowning,

that everything is falling to pieces...

..but when I would see my boyfriend next to me, it would lift me up.

You have to lock yourself in a room.

You would see other people from the balcony,

a girlfriend or a boyfriend walking in the open,

we were not allowed to do that.

You would feel a kind of collapse somewhere in your soul.

Sometimes nothing,

neither money or gold or any kind of wealth would give me

as much satisfaction as the mere thought that one day we would go away

together and be alone,

hope that we will live normal life,

like everyone else.

It took about four months

to complete all this planning process...

..and it cost a lot of money.

After all that, I had to disappear

because that was the arrangement between us.

I would have beauticians coming to my house, hairdressers,

not even he can recognise me sometimes,

but he would tell me

that I have to do frequent makeovers

because of myself and because of the false documents.

That sounds fun and quite glamorous, the transformations.

-Did you enjoy it?

-No, I hated it.

They weren't fun to do

because I liked the way I looked,

and sometimes those transformations would bother me,

like I lost my identity.

I felt like a doll

that was experimented on.

Tito died in 1980.

It was like my father died,

just like my father.

I can't explain the mourning.

They took us to visit his mausoleum - Kuca Cveca, it's called.

You would have to queue for two days

to visit his tomb and pay your tribute -

the entire Yugoslavia was there.

This is when it all started.

You could sense the separation coming from the point

that each republic would have their own president.

MILOSEVIC SPEAKS TO CROWD

The first time I saw Milosevic was on television.

I saw him during this big rally in Kosovo.

The separation and hatred already started by then.

In every city, there was a national ID.

You're a Serbian, Albanian,

this guy's from Croatia, you know, from Kosovo.

I don't know, great tension - everything was cracking open.

For me, as an Albanian in Montenegro,

the hatred was very visible,

just pure hatred.

This is where the huge partition started.

CROWD CHANT

After Tito died,

separatist groups in different nations of Yugoslavia

just rose up...

..and they really contributed to the final end of that country...

..to its dismantling.

I think that you'll have to agree that Yugoslavia is a pretty

spectacular country, and we haven't even seen half of it yet.

Tomorrow night, Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia,

Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics

and then, Dubrovnik, one of the most exciting,

unique and charming little cities in all of the world.

I saw it last night and I can't wait for you to see it,

so I'll see you tomorrow night from Yugoslavia.

TRADITIONAL MUSIC PLAYS

EXPLOSION

GUNFIRE

REPORTER: 'The ethnically mixed communities of Muslims, Serbs

'and Croats have traditionally lived together in peace...

'..until a majority of the people in Bosnia-Herzegovina

'voted for independence,

'denying Serbia its plans for a newly-formed Yugoslavia.'

All the darkness of Milosevic's regime

left a huge mark on people's soul.

Many people just like...

..to the war zones,

you know, sent to Dubrovnik or Bosnia to kill, to rape.

I like this area, I really do.

It's so green.

This is the street where I spent many hours during the '90s,

because I was demonstrating against Slobodan Milosevic and his rule.

It has very strong and very fresh memories.

I mean, just...

We tried to say, "Look, it's time for you to go.

"You are taking us into total disaster."

It is just interesting to pass here after so many years.

Nice treat.

-REPORTER:

-'It's time to turn up the pressure on Yugoslavia,

'the European community decided today.

'Behind closed doors,

'they imposed immediate trade sanctions against Yugoslavia,

'and the UN Security Council is to be asked

'to coordinate an oil embargo.'

What we've decided today

is to impose sanctions on the whole of Yugoslavia.

Over time, that will certainly build into an effective pressure.

I don't know how long.

-MIKE:

-By the end of '94,

it was the core of Milosevic' regime and activities.

You know, times were such that you don't know

what tomorrow's going to bring.

We all took this rhythm of, "Come on, come on,"

smuggling everywhere, crime everywhere,

nobody thought about real jobs.

I mean, there's no real job.

I had a good deal of money.

When there was a job, cracking safe,

I would go abroad for a month or two.

It was a good job, profitable, you know, we were dancing to the music.

It was the time of turbo-folk music.

Every time I hear it, I feel chaos.

SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE

Everybody was trying to swindle you, rob you, cheat,

it was bare survival - just deceit after deceit.

There was not a single night that somebody wasn't beaten up or killed.

The black market has flourished under the sanctions.

There is a widespread network of illegal dealings in all spheres

and it is done with the quiet consent of Serbian government.

-MILENA:

-It is the truth that crime erupted during the wars,

which is usual and expected.

Many people became criminals, but not all.

We all had choice.

It wasn't easy, it was difficult.

I could become prostitute or drug smuggler or oil smuggler,

but I've not.

THUNDER RUMBLES

REPORTER: 'It's not over yet.

'Hundreds were kicked out of Kosovo today, literally -

'kicked and beaten at the border

'within sight of freedom.

'And so, the biggest forced exodus in Europe goes on

'with enough bitterness to ensure

'that Albanians and Serbs will find it hard ever to live together again.'

Europe couldn't do much, you know, it was getting too big -

refugees from Bosnia, from Kosovo, from Croatia...

..and 70% of these refugees went to Europe,

and so the criminal went to Europe,

and this is the beginning of Pink Panther.

-MILENA:

-Some change just happened in 2000 -

a few people started to rob

really, really big values.

OK, they are using guns.

This is to scare.

That is the only purpose of gun,

but one of their condition is no victims.

They were actually creating the signature

of what we know now as Pink Panthers.

And as one Panther said,

"After that, you have ten years of very good life."

MIKE: So we waited for a festival that was about to take place,

and we waited a long time.

It was some kind of a religious thing,

a fiesta, music, dancing, just some kind of noise.

That was what we were waiting for -

some kind of noise that they couldn't hear us

banging through the walls.

Because the crooks need time,

they're more likely to hit safes on weekends or holidays.

They're clever about finding ways to do it without attracting attention.

There was four of us plus one guy in a van.

We were completely hidden by the people in the street.

FIREWORKS AND STREET CHATTER

We were all dressed up, we had our masks, bodysuits,

completely covered up - you couldn't see us at all,

and now the action could begin.

RUBBLE BREAKS

We only needed to pickaxe the wall.

In the end, there was a hole this big

and we squeezed through it into the boutique behind.

We knew everything that was in a glass case was alarmed. It's a trick.

They always do this. They alarm cheap stuff like a decoy.

But the real booty is in the save!

So we got to the safe, we try to take it out with the pickaxe...

But we couldn't. We were looking at it and there was no chance.

Then we saw the screws were inside the concrete

and we had the idea to lift it up with the car jack.

Lucky there was one in the van.

We got out, we took the safe out of the shop and we put it in the van.

People around us, fiesta, fireworks - incredible.

Thing is, there's no panic when you do the job.

The panic begins when you run.

But we drove away through the people.

And we went away into the woods.

We got out by a lake, I remember.

Somewhere dark, somewhere safe. Somewhere secure.

And then we began to open the safe.

You get the safes that are mechanical, numerical,

with locks, and you get the digital ones. I can crack them all.

Digital safes are the easiest to open.

You take some powder and dust them

and you can see the fingerprints and you know everything.

Numerical ones are the hardest.

You have to use your hearing, you have to have very good hearing

and a good memory. This is very difficult.

But in this case we couldn't open it. We tried everything.

We made phone calls.

I spoke to another safe expert. But we gave up that night.

You can't sleep. You can't sleep, for God's sake.

We're all in this together, we're all friends

but with this kind of loot, your brain works on different frequency.

You could have two or three million euros

and you don't know what will happen.

I don't know. Money is money, you can't separate.

If one of us is missing, he could take it all.

-WOMAN:

-I was in the flat on my own.

I was already worrying why they were not back yet.

They didn't call, no phone calls at all

because that was the arrangement.

I didn't know what was happening,

all kinds of thoughts were going through my head.

I would often cry and I wanted to get out of the flat

but I was told not to do that.

Sometimes I wouldn't even care about the money.

I waited for HIM, not the loot.

We had to wait for the morning to buy additional tools that we needed.

We bought two more crowbars, one big, one small, we took another

pickaxe and we thought we could do something with burning gas.

And when we had the tools, we went back to the lake.

We were guarding the van outside and inside we could speak

and pick until finished.

THUNDER CRACKS

It took over an hour to open the safe.

When you open a safe and you see it's a full, full safe...

There's the feeling, it's like,

a feeling you might faint any moment.

I love that!

And in this safe there was plenty of stuff. There was really a lot.

We found six bags that we call rolls.

It was three stones,

three bags of stones, two with bracelets

and one with watches. Er...

In the newspapers, when it came about the robbery,

it said the value three million.

And if I can only say what else we found, inside of the safe!

We found a fake penis! You say dildo, no?

And I bet you they didn't declare that to the police!

HE LAUGHS

-What do they do with the jewels?

-We don't know exactly.

What we know, the jewels are going very fast out of the country

to where they committed the robbery.

The day after, the jewels are disappeared.

We think they are going in Italy or in Montenegro or Serbia

and after, it is sold.

So, what do you do with the diamonds?

We bring the stones over here to our contact in Belgrade

but he doesn't have a market in the former Yugoslavia.

He has to sell abroad but maybe, I don't know, Antwerp?

We would do this job ourselves but it's very risky abroad

because you make an offer, you give it to the guy,

they take it and it's a set-up and bang. You're killed.

No, we stay in the Balkans.

TRANSLATION:

What do you do, then, do you hide it, do you swallow it?

HE LAUGHS

They had a false passport and they were about to cross the border

very easily, by plane, by car, or by train and for them

it was difficult to follow them and to know what they are going to do.

When they go back to the country,

there was like a protection,

they knew nobody is going to come to Montenegro or to Serbia to pick them there,

even if you have an arrest warrant, because some of them

were involved with the politicians and so it was very difficult,

so they knew that as soon as I have made my robbery,

I go back to the country - there I'm protected.

That's right, in the Balkans they speak of the pinks like Robin Hood.

But that's not reality.

Normally, about the guys we know, the money they use or they have

they're not going to give that for the Red Cross or...

an association in Montenegro.

You have some who will reinvest some money in drugs,

some who put the money in real estate

and some just use the money for fun.

Then the pink starts changing.

He starts gambling, going out all the time, the money that we had,

we start to rapidly spend it more and more.

And then we start arguing.

I wanted to somehow attract him to live a different kind of life.

I thought perhaps he needs only one more job and he would change.

It would change his life.

But I saw that he wouldn't change for anything or anybody.

He said he wanted me to continue my life and that he didn't know

if his life would ever change.

Then I gave up on him.

MILITARY MARCHING CHANT

My name is Green and I'm from Bosnia-Herzegovina.

I don't consider myself as one of Pink Panthers but I am connected.

In 1996, I joined the special operation unit

because I knew that the contacts in the Serbian security service

would allow me job benefits in the future.

My first criminal job in Bosnia

was importing stolen cars from Europe.

The second job was human trafficking for prostitution,

predominantly from Ukraine and Moldova.

So, it is only the third phase that we do drugs, cocaine and diamonds.

Nothing in diamonds could be done outside the Serb secret service.

America asked the United Nations to prevent diamond smuggling

because this war in Sierra Leone was financed by diamond trade.

The Americans requested every diamond sold in Sierra Leone

had to have a certificate about its origin and everything,

so we actually, my group and myself, learned how to make certificates and

how to make clean illegal diamonds that are ready for the market.

The first contract with Pink Panthers was when I started

the diamond business in Antwerp.

They would bring diamonds to me and my team would process it,

forging diamond certificates

and inputting real information from Sierra Leone that was

mined in this and that place and it has original certificates.

The entire genesis, America asked the United Nations to establish.

The diamonds are cut, reshaped, but they get smaller.

If it was 30 carats, it is now 15.

They are clean in every sense of the word.

It's not possible to prove they are not clean.

Our biggest clients are Americans.

I will say, although I've never been to America, my diamonds

are on the hands of the brides.

I receive information, Al-Qaeda also purchase diamonds.

Diamonds have a good exchange value

because they don't leave electronic trace.

Every transaction over 15,000 euros or dollars is controlled.

But who controls diamonds? Nobody.

You can come out with a tiny bag full of diamonds

and you can buy a bowl filled with cocaine.

The real...

the first step on the real work on the Pink Panthers is 2007,

when Monaco pushed Interpol to make a project work...

to create this Project Pink Panther.

And the real job, for me, began at this time.

Because at this time, we began to say, "OK, they are linked,

"they are reselling.

"A lot of these teams are linked and working in all Europe.

"And we have to do this project

"so we can put all the information together."

If we take one example, this guy,

we see that he is connected to this guy

because they were arrested together, in 2004.

And at the same time, he is connected with this guy

because they have done a robbery together.

Because we know that there are, between some groups,

like, a small competition -

who is going to make the biggest robbery.

And we know that there are some targets in the world

and the first one who is going to make that will take...

a little bit, like, take the lead on the other teams.

Well, the night of the incident, it was just a regular night out,

hanging out with some friends.

And I get a call from a friend of mine

who informs me that there's a big robbery going on at Wafi.

She tells me that her husband's there

and he's just sent her, on BlackBerry,

a video shot of what's happening.

CONFUSED SHOUTING

I immediately headed out to Wafi

and I just saw police cordoning off the area around it.

CONFUSED SHOUTING

I was standing at the entrance and started clipping pictures

and trying to see what's going on and what's happened.

Out comes the door - the Dubai police chief.

The first words that have come out of his mouth that night was,

"These were definitely not Arabs.

"This was too well-organised."

CONFUSED SHOUTING

So what happened? You went straight to the mall?

Yes, I went straight and I meet my commanders, also, in the area.

And we closed the places

and we find some glass is on the ground

and the evidence from all the things.

And we must be careful about the place and that's what we're doing.

The cars have come out of this main doorway,

that's right behind us,

drove straight through onto this road

which connects them to the outside of the mall

and into the highway,

where we're going to retrace the route that they've taken, right now.

From this point onwards, to the highway,

there are no traffic lights.

So the guys had more or less

clear access to the roads.

So the thieves dumped the cars, set fire to them,

jumped into their getaway car and now they have disappeared.

The whole thing would have possibly taken them about ten minutes.

Next day morning, early morning,

the two cars were found abandoned and burnt.

One of them more than the other.

-MAJOR GENERAL:

-He closed all the window of the cars.

When he closed the window, there is no oxygen for the fire inside

and then we find all the evidence inside this car.

We find the gloves, we find some dress,

we find the tanks who have used the chemicals to burn the cars.

Immediately, we know this is organised

from Pink Panther organised crimes.

This is what I feel immediately,

when I go back to see the CCTV camera.

TRANSLATION:

At that time, every single Serbian who has had a record

was picked up and questioned.

TRANSLATION:

-So how many people did you have working on the job?

-Anything.

We don't get a limit for that.

It depended about

what the kind of work they will be doing is.

Over the next three, four days, it just went frantic.

They kept on feeding information to the Interpol,

for the international police force to try to get these guys.

TRANSLATION:

It's not easy for anyone to do any crime

and not leave any evidence.

They left evidence, that helped us.

Because this is forensics and that's the beauty of DNA.

We got information from Interpol about the DNA.

So we were working.

And we knew that they rented a car.

But this car,

nobody knows where this car is.

Then we found the car.

We decide that we will not take the car.

We will watch it.

And we find one guy -

they try to open the car and we catch him,

because that guy, they sent to take the jewels

out of the country.

We find the jewellery inside this car.

Police, when the arrests were made,

called in a huge press conference.

All the media was there,

laid out the jewellery in front of everybody and said,

"We've caught them, we've nabbed them.

"We're done."

And who were the others, then?

-You had a picture of the girl.

-Yes.

-But she's not in prison?

-No.

She's in Serbia, so maybe she cannot be arrested in Serbia.

I hope she'll be arrested in Serbia. But I know her.

We tried to discuss this with Interpol.

We tried to do so.

So if a member of the Pink Panther gang watches my film,

what is your message?

To be far from our area.

Don't try to play with us, because we are not playing.

They had a great period between 2000 and 2006.

And the problem for them, it is that the connection

between the different police in Europe is a problem for them.

We can exchange information very easily.

And on top of that, with Serbia and Montenegro now,

we have a good connection

and they are cooperating with the Western police in Europe.

So for them, it's going to be harder to commit these robberies in Europe.

And that's what Interpol said -

it's one of the first time they have such a project

which gives so much information

and who bring us to so many arrests.

Since 2007,

you have nearly 50 people who were arrested across Europe.

-Is it still safe here?

-Oh, no, no, no.

Montenegro isn't a safe haven any more.

Montenegro has started to extradite people

because they want to join the European Union.

So it's not any more about doing it and escaping.

You have to protect yourself here as much as there.

But, you know, now we lead much more simple lives.

Things slowed down and, you know...

Now it's becoming more difficult and more dangerous,

because the police know all the tricks.

It would be very nice to feel secure,

to be in your home - safe.

And this is the consequence of this job - paranoia.

You see, now I walk down the street and my head goes like...

Like a rear view mirror, you know?

Am I being followed?

Does anybody see me? Anybody follow me?

The habit lingers.

Even now, in my pocket, I have pills - had pills -

just in case.

But crisis throws you back in it.

You are used to a lot of money, lots of fun.

You have a reputation - easy money spent, easy money earned.

It burns quickly, so when you're left with no money,

you don't know how to do another job.

INTERCOM BUZZES

We have always old teams who work, who try to make new teams,

and at the same time, we have brand-new teams.

We have a lot of guys working in all Europe.

For me, they're more violent.

Already, their entrance in the jeweller's

is not so professional

and there could be mistakes inside,

and that could be more dangerous for us,

because the attitude of the bad guys could bring us to a tragic end.

Look, I must warn you something -

you cannot say the Pink Panthers' era is over,

because you don't know what will happen next.

It is maybe just the end of one generation.

But what is going on with the other teams from other countries

that want to do the same?

Maybe we are just witnessing the development.

I went back to Dimitrovgrad.

Bad. Very bad.

I was physically and mentally shaken,

and after all that luxury, I was completely broken down.

I was depressed.

But I realised that I have to carry on with my life.

I got married to a man who gave me hope.

He was completely legal.

He wasn't corrupt, he wasn't criminal.

But I finally started a new life with him.

I started a family.

BABY GURGLES

In my heart, I remain what I was.

Milan is the man I love.

But when kids come, you can't choose.

You have one path.

You cannot continue on criminal path.

My mother was very pious and with her,

I would sometimes pray to God before bedtime.

But also in those moments of hardship,

I would often go to church to light a candle,

to cry and to think about things.

And do you still believe in God?

Yes, yes, of course. And I teach my children. Of course.

We have to ask for His forgiveness.

And all these people who are criminals, believe me,

they believe in God more than regular people.

We have to pray a lot more for His forgiveness.

God is merciful.

And maybe He will.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd