Two Serbians formerly associated with the Pink Panthers robbery gang, were involved in jewellery store robberies in downtown Athens using the “smash-and-grab” method, were arrested on Wednesday afternoon (24/4) by officers of the Property Crime Prosecution Department of the Attica Security Directorate. According to the investigation, the arrested individuals have been operating since December of last year, and up to now, two burglary cases in downtown Athens stores have been solved.

The suspects would select stores, conduct surveillance, devise their entry and then steal jewellery and gold pieces. They also had a network where they would sell the stolen goods, yielding profits of over 315,000 euros. One of their heists occurred in late December 2023 when they carried out a smash-and-grab at the jewellery store “Prigkipo” in downtown Athens.

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How jewellery stores were targeted 

The robbers would target jewellery stores by conducting nighttime operations. They would approach shops either on foot or by car, parking at a distance to avoid being spotted. Their selection of stores was deliberate, often adjacent to empty buildings to evade being noticed. Using the “smash-and-grab” method, they would make holes between buildings to access stores where the one member would crawl in to avoid the alarm sensors. A fabric was placed to muffle any noise while entering. Notably, the robbers would thoroughly survey the area during off-hours, also they would use fake documents and travel solely to avoid being caught. The items that were confiscated include burglary tools, watches, jewellery, cash, fake IDs, personal items,mobile phones.