A gang of Balkan jewel thieves who call themselves The Pink Panthers have been nicking luxury goods and raiding jewellery shops from Tenerife to Timbuktu. One of the gang, Rifat Hadziahmetovic, from Montenegro was arrested as he tried to leave Cyprus on a fake passport and is currently being held pending a hearing regarding his extradition to Spain on March 31st

Inspector Clous… Andreou informed the press that the suspect was “…initially detained on suspicion of possession of forged documents, but further inquiries revealed he was wanted by Interpol for being a suspected part of the Pink Panther gang,”

Apparently the suspect was also identified by a tattoo on his leg though no information is currently available to support the rumour that it was of a large pink cat.

Hadziahmetovic is wanted in Tenerife among many other places for the theft of luxury items including watches and precious jewels, with the watches alone having an estimated value of 660,000 euros (877,000 dollars), according to an Interpol message received by Cyprus police.