DNA tests identify notorious ‘Pink Panther’ thieves 15 years after jewellery heist in France

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 of the past two decades.

Between 1999 and 2015, these criminals are thought to have carried out at least 380 armed robberies, targeting high-end jewellery stores and snatching €334 million (US$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 25km from the Swiss border.

One pulled a handgun, while the others smashed open the glass cases, snatching €350,000 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 never caught.