An international crime gang known for its violence and daring has been taken out in raids across Europe.
The mobsters were hit in Serbia and the Netherlands.
Law officers targeted the cartel’s leadership and its infra-structure.
In all, 23 people were arrested.
They included three leaders considered as High Value Targets by Europol.
One is believed to be a former member of the Pink Panther gang – renowned for daring high-end jewellery thefts across Europe including London.
In co-ordinated raids 13 arrests were made in Serbia and 35 house searched.
The seizures included 15 high-end cars, luxury jeweller and watches and almost €3 million in cash.
Materiel uncovered included including two sniper rifles, three automatic rifles, guns, silencers, 24 detonator capsules and five devices for remote initiation of detonators, 13 packages of plastic explosives, several hundred pieces of ammunition.
The cross-border sting is the result of Europol’s Operational Taskforce looking into the usage of the encrypted communication platform SKY ECC.
In co-operation with France, Belgium, and the Netherlands, and with the support of Europol’s Drugs Unit, Serbia was able to identify the key targets on its territory and map out their criminal activities across the world.
The gang is believed to be behind multi-tonne cocaine shipments that made their way to Europe directly from Colombia, Brazil, and Ecuador, or indirectly through West Africa.
This gang was known in the criminal underworld for its violence and involvement in high-end robberies.
One of the targets arrested in Serbia was a former leader of the infamous Pink Panther criminal group.
Thanks to the analysis carried out on Sky ECC data, at least seven tonnes of cocaine seized in European ports in 2020 were traced back to this cartel.
The criminal kingpins, arrested in Belgrade as part of this operation, were the biggest cocaine traffickers in the Western Balkans identified as part of the ongoing analysis work carried out on Sky ECC data.
Europol’s Deputy Executive Director Jean-Philippe Lecouffe commented:
“With over 50 countries with a permanent representation at Europol – including all the Balkan countries, Europol is the place where such a co-operation can take place.
“It is by constant sharing of intelligence and a proper co-ordination that we can disrupt criminal networks, dismantle their operations and make our communities safer.”
The Pinker Panthers stole more than £100 million in jewellery heists over the past decade.
The educated gangsters – who all have multiple identities and speak several languages – earned their nickname after stealing a £500,000 diamond from a Mayfair jeweller in 2003 and hiding it in a jar of face cream.
They were inspired by the original Inspector Clouseau film in which the world’s most expensive gem is hidden the same way.
Members of the gang, believed to come from across the former Yugoslavia region, have carried out around 100 daring raids across the globe, including in London, Dubai, Geneva, Monaco, and Tokyo.