England fans ‘safe’ in Russia
CASUALLY strolling at an art fair, this is the prime suspect in a £2million London diamond raid.
The man caught on CCTV in polo shirt and jeans where the theft took place is believed to be a key member of the notorious Pink Panther crime cartel.
Scotland Yard have named Vinko Osmakcic as the main suspect in connection with the theft of three diamond rings from a cabinet at the Masterpiece London 2017 event at the Royal Hospital Chelsea, west London, on July 4 last year.
The Croatian national is believed to be a ringleader of the Pink Panther network, wanted all over the world.
The three stolen items are a cushion-shaped diamond ring, a yellow diamond ring encased in a smaller oval and round-shaped diamond and an emerald-cut diamond ring with pink and purple stones and four pearshaped diamonds.
The bands on all diamond-encrusted.
Detective Sergeant Chris Taylor, of Kensington and Chelsea CID, said: “This was a well-planned and audacious theft committed in the middle of a busy art fair.
“We are releasing the image of Mr Osmakcic in an attempt to trace him. three rings are It is highly likely that Mr Osmakcic may be out of the UK, possibly in Europe.
“He may also be known by the name Vinko Tomic or Juro Markelic.
“I am asking anyone who knows his whereabouts to contact police or Crimestoppers so we can bring him to justice.”
The Panthers got their nickname after a diamond stolen during a raid in London was later found hidden in a jar of face cream.
The tactic was used in the original 1963 Pink Panther film crime comedy, starring Peter Sellers.
The gang are said to be behind a heist in 2003 at Graff jewellers in London’s Mayfair, when two people made off with more than £23million worth of jewellery in under three minutes. Since 1999, they are believed to have staged more than 350 robberies and thefts in Europe, Middle East, Asia and the US. Osmakcic was arrested in Las Vegas in 2010 over a jewel raid but freed after a year.
Armed with sledge hammers, guns and other weapons, the robbers specialise in lightning smash-and-grab raids. The Panthers are suspected of stealing goods with a retail value of £300million.
Their most spectacular prize was the Comtesse de Vendome – a 125carat necklace made up of 116 diamonds worth around £20million stolen from a Tokyo jewellers in 2004.
In Paris in 2004, they waited until staff were distracted by a visit from the French prime minister’s wife before sneaking gems worth £11million from an unguarded safe.
In a robbery in Cannes, they put fresh paint on a bench opposite a jewellery store to deter potential eye witnesses.
In Dubai in 2007, the gang rammed the glass walls of a shopping mall in two stolen cars and sped off with around £2million in jewellery in just 170 seconds.
Interpol say that the Pink Panthers are a “loosely aligned” network of crooks with roots in the former Yugoslavia. RUSSIA has given the UK “assurances” about plans to keep fans safe during next month’s World Cup, MPs heard yesterday.
Foreign Office minister Harriett Baldwin said Britain would have “at least as” many of its own police officers in Russia during the tournament as any other country.
Officials in Moscow say they have drawn up a “blacklist” of known football hooligans.
About 10,000 England supporters have tickets for the World Cup.
Tory MP Priti Patel asked if authorities feared a repeat of the clashes between English and Russian fans at Euro 2016, which were widely blamed on Russian thugs.
Ms Baldwin said: “We welcome the fact that since that event in Marseille, the group that was alleged to have been involved has been effectively banned.”
She added that in addition to the list of known Russian troublemakers, about 1,800 England fans were subject to travel bans.
Ms Baldwin told MPs that police cooperation continued between UK and Russia despite the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia.