15 yrs on, thieves behind French heist surface in Serbia

They believed they were safe but a few blood drops betrayed them: 15 years after a daring robbery at a French jewellery store, the four alleged perpetrators have been found — in Serbia.

The Belfort job had all the hallmarks of a “Pink Panther” operation, the modus operandi used by an international jewel thief network of Serbs and Montenegrins responsible for some of the most audacious robberies in the past two decades.

Between 1999 and 2015, these criminals are believed to have carried out at least 380 armed robberies, targeting high-end jewellery stores and snatching $391 million worth of loot, Interpol says.

One morning in September 2003, a group of masked men burst into a jewellery shop in Belfort, a town in eastern France just 25 km from the Swiss border.

One pulled a handgun, while the others smashed open the glass cases, snatching 350,000 euros worth of jewellery and watches before fleeing — all within the space of a minute.

Police later managed to arrest their Serbian fences, one of whom had a stolen watch on his wrist.

But the thieves themselves were

Between 1999 and 2015, the four criminals are believed to have carried out at least 380 armed robberies, targeting highend jewellery stores and snatching $391 million worth of loot, Interpol says.

never caught.

Nor were they identified until 2013 following progress in a forensic investigation into traces of blood on one of the glass cabinets, on a cupboard and on a Cartier box.

By analysing the DNA, they identified two Serb nationals who were unknown in France but wanted in Austria: “Zica” and “Boka”, both of them 41 years old.

And by crosschecking their phone records, they also found the other two suspected of involvement in the robbery: “Sasa”, 37, and “Luka”, 48.

All four come from Uzice, a once prosperous industrial town some 150 km southwest of Belgrade which has since fallen on hard times. “Most of these criminals originate from Nis, Cacak and Uzice,” the town’s prosecutor Ljubisa Dragasevic said, explaining many in this western region end up turning to crime due to problems making ends meet. But there’s also “the cult of the criminal within society, the tough guys”, he said.

“In such circles, these activities overseas are a matter of prestige. They... see themselves as defenders of poor Serb victims of the West,” the prosecutor said.