Original subtitles

( Man speaking indistinctly )

( children laughing )

( chattering )

( electronic beeping )

( car horn blares )

( car engine revving )

( tires screeching )

( tires screeching, glass shatters )

Woman #1: Now, they're known as the Pink Panthers.

They're a gang that steals jewels

from high end stores all over the world.

And one of their alleged...

Woman #2: Armed with this magnum revolver

and helped by an accomplice, he pounced.

( glass shattering )

Man #1: We're talking about an international criminal group,

made up of more than 200 people.

They are organized in independent cells

and they live in different countries.

Man #2: These are all people from the former Yugoslavia.

The core of the group comes from Montenegro,

there's another substantial group from Serbia.

( car horn honks ) Milena Miletic: One of the Panthers said that every robbery

that is lasting more than 22 seconds is a great risk.

( car horn honks )

Novak: There's no alarm, no security system,

that can be good, but cannot be broken.

A few hours, and you're in another country and you're safe.

( tires screeching )

That's what I like, you know.

Mike: I have a lot to tell you about these robberies,

and there were many, but the best job I ever did was in Spain.

Mike: We waited for a festival that was about to take place,

and we waited a long time.

There was some kind of a religious thing,

a fiesta, music, dancing...

( police radio chatter )

...some kind of noise that

they couldn't hear us banging through the walls.

And now the action could begin.

( Phone buttons beeping )

( phone ringing )

( ringing continues )

My name is Novak, you know,

and people call us Pink Panthers.

( laughs )

English people, they call us because of the film.

I read somewhere that one inspector, I don't know where,

he said that we are terrorists or something like that,

modern terrorists, but it's not true.

I mean, we are just taking something unimportant

for rich people for us who doesn't have that, you know?

( laughs )

( phone hangs up )

Novak: We start with some houses,

you know, some cars, something like that... ( glass shatters )

...but jewelry, we find out it's much easier.

Jewelry is small, it's expensive,

they get you more money.

They can be in China,

they can be in Singapore, Tokyo, Dubai.

Wherever they have rich stuff, we can be there.

( alarm blaring )

( alarm winds down, stops )

( boat horn blares )

( seagulls squawking )

Here we are really in the middle of the old town of Geneva.

And there you have all the biggest jewelries...

...with millions and millions of stuff in the windows.

There you have Chatila.

This jewelry was attacked by the Pinks in 2009.

That means they enter by this door,

and after that they were in this road,

two scooter... You say scooter in English?

...were waiting, and when they finish the robberies

they jump on the scooter and they leave the place.

Gubelin was attacked one or two times by the Pinks,

Graff, Graff Geneva...

de Grisogono, Chopard, Atelier.

But the statistics are numbers,

approximately 500 cases of robberies

and burglaries made by the Pinks.

Speaking about the value of all the robberies,

approximately 300 million of US dollars.

If you take all their triumphs together,

they are the best jewelry thieves in the world.

I don't know, but my feeling, you see, it's a Pink Panther,

and there are colleagues who gave me that one or two years ago.

They were involved in a case that began here and they work on,

and they find this big Pink Panther and they bring it here,

and it's a joke between all the teams

in Europe working on the Pink Panthers.

( phone ringing )

Director: Can you tell me,

when did you first hear of the Pink Panthers?

Glassey: It was in 2000.

At the beginning it was different, for me it was as different

as the other teams about the organization.

It was more organized,

the action was very, very fast when they come.

Glassey: They have made a lot of robberies,

so that means when they come,

they are confident, they are sure about what they have to do.

The preparation is very, very good.

That means they come, sometimes some months before

to try to find which jewelry they are going to attack,

and after that, to know exactly how they are going to work,

how many people they need to be there,

how they are going to escape,

and after that they do the robbery.

Sometimes working on bad guys,

there is something very particular, very special between.

There is a respect, but at the same time it's like a game,

they know that we are hunting them,

because it is a little bit like that,

from Pacino and De Niro in the film.

It was like that, but there are always movies.

They are not the realities.

We just must remember that they are bad guys,

going inside jewelry with guns.

Capt. Herve Conan: We understood in this time that they were able

to do things incredible, that nobody had done before.

The first time we didn't know that they were Pink Panthers,

you know, this name did not exist in this time.

And the first time we just think it was one robbery

or two robberies, that's all.

We did not identify the first time the importance of the group.

It was a challenge because they are crossing the borders very fast,

after the robbery, very easily,

we started to understand that it was a group.

The only thing we know

that they were coming from former Yugoslavia,

that's all we had at the first time.

And so we started to identify the different cities they were coming from

in former Yugoslavia, especially in Montenegro, from Cetinje.

- Yugoslavia! - Yugoslavia.

Yugoslavia!

Yugoslavia.

Female host: Few Americans know little or anything about Yugoslavia.

One reason is because not many people know where to find it.

Actually, it's really quite simple.

Just go to Italy and make a right.

Yugoslavia.

Female host: A popular misconception about Yugoslavia

is that it is a neighboring country of the Soviet Union.

In actuality, it borders seven European countries,

none of them being Russia.

A bigger misconception than the location though, is the country itself.

When most Americans think of Yugoslavia, this is not what comes to mind.

Or this.

Or this.

Or even this.

( car horn honks )

( siren blaring in distance )

( dog barking )

Milena: The first time I heard about the Panthers were in 2004.

It was surprise, and my first thought,

when the newspapers published that

the perpetrators were three Serbs.

I said, "Fuck! This is all we need!"

My second thought, however, was hmm,

interesting, and how very skilful people.

Because I didn't know how they did it.

Well, before 2000, we don't have Pink Panthers.

Some people started with so big and exclusive heists.

Mostly in Europe. Only Europe.

And after it, we have then

some of the Panthers robbed out of Europe,

they went to Bahrain,

they went to Japan,

they went to Dubai.

I'm working right now for BIRN,

"Balkan Investigative Reporting Network",

and at the moment I am looking

for Pink Panthers like I'm mad.

I'm working for more than two years on this.

At first I didn't believe it was possible to find any of them.

Why would any say,

"Look, I am Pink Panther, I'm going to help you"?

So that required a lot of work,

a lot of traveling, a lot of phone calls,

finding sources on the places

you would never believe you can find them.

That usually meant being on the road all the time,

traveling through the region all the time,

meeting all kinds of people all the time.

You must talk to dozens

of different people, all kinds of people,

meet them, be ready to meet them any time.

( speaking Bosnian )

Milena: You must make them trust you

that you're not going to talk to the police,

that you're not going to put any of them in danger.

But you know, when you something so extraordinary

which attracts the attention of the whole of the world

and many people say "Bravo! You robbed the bigger criminals."

Well, that can light some fire inside, I believe so.

( Man speaking in Bosnian )

Director: Um, okay, so if we start with...

Could he just introduce himself?

( Mike speaking in Bosnian )

Director: Okay, Mike, so we've agreed

that we will record this interview but not show your face.

( sound of scribbling on sketch pad )

Director: Okay, so we'll use your real words

but we will animate you and your voice, okay?

Mike: No face, not my real voice.

Director: So tell me, who are the Pink Panthers?

Well, I don't have a badge that says Pink Panther on it.

We are a network of teams working together,

and as soon as I was involved I became part of the network.

Everybody has their specific job to do, understand?

So we all depend on each other.

Those in the inner circle are called family,

but you have guys who don't know who their bosses or associates are.

You have to been with them for a long time

dealing with this kind of bigger jobs.

You get tips from your own supervisor

but there is also a wider chain of command.

You know, you never know where you stand in the hierarchy

because you never meet the boss.

You know, you don't know that this guy is the big boss.

There is no such a thing, no big boss.

You need a brain, knowledge,

and experience to do this work.

This means, you know, the jobs that we do,

and the other gangs that do sex, drugs, murder,

they rarely cross over, you know.

Director: So, tell me, what is it about the diamonds?

( Mike gasps )

I don't know why people spend money on diamonds.

You know, I don't suffer from this showing off.

I have a Rolex, but as a souvenir.

The diamonds, no, they don't attract me.

You know, for me, diamonds mean good cash, nothing else.

Leila: Not anyone can do this job.

You must be born to do it.

You must firstly trust in yourself...

( camera whirring )

...because if you are weak, you can't do it.

( high heels clacking on pavement )

Women in the Panthers have to be exceptional.

Exceptional.

( Woman speaking over P.A. system indistinctly )

Leila: I was extremely good looking,

30 kilos less.

I had long red hair at the time,

although I had frequent transformations, very frequent.

I'll be sometimes blonde, sometimes brunette.

Well, you can only have one in each gang,

and we have higher requirements for the women.

You know, they have the leading roles.

They have to do the main job.

So, they do the scouting, they enter,

they record, and they bring you the plan.

That means the woman has to be intelligent,

she has to be beautiful, and she has to love money.

Panthers are the guys do a great majority of jobs, per script

but they also need a woman on their team.

Everyone always thinks it's the men, men, men,

but without women, nothing would be done.

Mike: Leila has to be dressed in the most expensive clothes,

you know, most elegant clothes, very expensive jewelry.

Also to have her own chauffeur,

she had to act exactly like Madonna.

( car door closes )

Leila: I had to look very powerful.

It was stuff by Burberry, then Chanel,

whatever was in, she is in background

and whatever was popular.

I wouldn't even know some of the brands that existed,

but the stuff purchased,

it was well known that they were very expensive.

( Thunder crashing )

( car alarm blaring )

( car door slamming shut )

( tires screeching )

Director: So how did it all begin?

In the beginning, it was individuals,

small shops, casinos.

We went where there was money, you know, gold.

And eventually, jobs were bigger and better.

( Door creaks )

Mike: When I was in Italy I worked with this guy from Kosovo,

like his apprentice.

He could open a safe in two minutes.

We worked together for a year,

and by the end,

I could open a "cat" in no time.

Director: What's a cat?

The cat, we call it cat-- a safe.

Jewelry is like a magnet for crime.

It's worth a lot and the crooks want it.

Hello, I'm Mike Skewers for Jewelry Security Alliance.

Jewelry crime is big business, often run by organized criminals

who won't hesitate to use violence, in the city,

suburbs or out in the country.

Skewers: Jewelry crime causes $1.1 billion in losses each year,

from all sources, including consumers.

But in most stores, most of the jewelry does end up here at closing time,

and even though it's not as common as you might think,

the safe is still a target.

I have a lot to tell you about these robberies, and there were many.

But the best job I ever did was in Spain.

The perfect plan.

Mike: The jewelry shop was a perfect target,

and it was a beautiful boutique, you know,

very high class.

Leila: There was, in this city a most beautiful jewelry shop,

everything with diamonds,

rings with diamonds, bracelets,

necklaces, very beautiful.

Jewelry rarely achieves

that kind of sparkle, very rarely.

But we had no access there,

no access at all,

so we had to do it in a different way.

We tried many ways, we had different ideas about the job,

and then finally we had the idea, just to hire the shop next door.

Leila: Next to the jewelry shop was the souvenir shop.

In order to get to jewelry shop

we needed to go through the second shop first.

Mike: She met the Spanish shop owner and befriended him.

She had to lure the guy into a trap.

( door bell jingles )

I didn't go to seduce him,

but my very appearance contributed to his joy.

( Door creaks )

He employed me at his place,

not to work, because I couldn't speak the language well enough,

but to oversee things.

Mike: She had to do a good job because we needed to gain his trust.

You know, of course her beauty helped.

He thought that, they could get closer, you know,

that they would be together every day.

Well, I don't see why should I feel guilty,

it is his problem that he fell in love with me

and that my presence brought him lots of pleasure.

I couldn't do anything about that.

So when she was there, she examined the wall,

which gave us an idea that we could knock it down,

and where we could exit,

which way we could run.

Leila was there so she can scan,

and find any information,

and see if the plan would be possible.

The reason why I spent a lot of time with the Spanish guy

was so that I could observe when exactly

that the jewelry shop closed,

when would it open,

when they would go out for a coffee,

for how long they would be out,

generally it was all about them.

In fact,

I'm the most important part of the job,

and I'm aware of that.

My one mistake would be their fall.

So if I make an error somewhere,

they are doomed.

Director: Tell me about your life growing up in Yugoslavia.

Mike: I'm from the border of Montenegro and Albania, actually.

I'm 48.

My father was both Muslim, and a Communist.

( Cheering and applause )

Mike: Tito, he was our idol.

( speaking Bosnian )

( small child speaking in Bosnian )

Milena: Tito and the Communist Party of Yugoslavia

declared the Republic of Yugoslavia in 1945.

People now remember of that period

like the Golden Age.

Milena: He was a very authoritarian ruler,

he liked his position,

but he also had a strong sense

of what is necessary to do.

Yugoslavia was made

by many different nations,

different religions,

different ethnic groups,

we had more than 20 ethnic groups here,

and I believe

it was very hard to put them all together

and keep that country alive.

( Children singing in Bosnian )

As kids, you know,

I had in my class alongside gypsies

and other Albanian, Croatian, you know,

Germans, Jews, Muslims.

( child speaking in Bosnian )

It was really amazing.

Mike: I only got my first passport when I was 16 or 17.

But I couldn't wait for the summer.

In May, the first tourists would come.

Germans, French, Italian,

and English would come too,

and you know, and they would go swim naked.

I would sell them coke and beer.

Wherever there was an opportunity to peek to watch naked women

I would sit down to watch.

My first love was this German woman.

( Chuckles )

I am still thinking of her now.

That's how I actually got to learn my German.

Ah, see how it's all coming back.

( Wind howling )

- ( dog barking in distance ) - ( Church bell in distance )

Leila: As a young girl, I lived in Dmitrovgrad.

It was a small house where my grandmother lived.

But my aunt came for me,

and my life continued in Hamburg, in Germany.

( Foreign '80s pop music playing )

I had a wonderful time, wonderful.

This is something that remains stamped in my memory.

I was taken by the extravagance and luxury there was.

I thought I will become something and somebody in my life.

I couldn't go out that much, as my aunt was a very strict woman.

She was working in a Yugoslav restaurant

and she got me a job to wash dishes and to work at the bar.

I had a chance to meet all kinds of people.

And that's how I met my boyfriend.

I was still a child,

17 years old,

and there was some kind of chemistry between us,

and after that he started giving me all kinds of gifts--

perfumes, necklaces, bracelets--

and so we got together.

( Speaking German )

Ladies and gentlemen,

we would like to inform you about a few things

that will be of interest to you during the flight.

Leila: I was in love and I was doing everything just to be with him.

It was arranged that we all go to Spain.

But this is where everything was clear to me.

This was a criminal job that he was doing.

When he confessed, I wasn't bothered with it at all.

In fact, I asked him to introduce me to his job

so I can be closer to him.

( thunder crashing )

I was very anxious, nervous, I wanted to do it,

but in that moment I thought to myself, how am I going to?

Somewhere in the back of my mind,

I was afraid, but I never show it.

I would go all or nothing.

And I became the scout-- I entered the shop,

I recorded where everything is, I told them.

Mike: Leila would then simply enter the boutique,

and she would just do everything, solely with her eyes.

Where everything is, the distances, how far things are,

what she thinks can be done, to what extent,

who is there, and how many of them, how many cameras.

Every single detail she has to cover.

It is only a woman who can do this job properly.

A man would stick out too much.

She can ask for a necklace, she can ask for a ring.

( Electronic beeping )

Leila: I had a very large hat.

I looked like a real lady,

and I had that ring.

( dings )

That ring was very expensive,

and I told them that I lost weight

and that I came for them to make it smaller.

While they were doing this, I had plenty of time

to assess and check out everything around me.

( surveillance camera beeping, whirring )

I couldn't see that safe.

We call the safe the kitten.

I couldn't locate it.

But everything else I had to assess.

When I would go back home,

there was a man who would sketch it all based on my story.

He drew it all.

The woman didn't take part in the action.

She gave us the key, gave us information,

and her part of the job is finished.

Most of the time I felt strong,

but I sometimes

had a feeling that I was drowning,

that everything is falling to pieces,

but when I would see my boyfriend next to me,

it would lift me up.

Leila: You have to lock yourself in a room.

You would see other people from the balcony,

a girlfriend or a boyfriend walking in the open,

but we were not allowed to do that.

You would feel a kind of collapse

somewhere in your soul.

Sometimes nothing, neither money

or gold or any kind of wealth

would give me as much satisfaction

as the mere thought that one day

we will go away together and be alone,

hope that we will live

a normal life like everyone else.

Mike: And it took about four months

to complete all this planning process,

and it costs, it costs a lot of money.

Leila: And after all that, I had to disappear,

because that was the arrangement between us.

I would have beauticians coming to my house, hairdressers.

Not even Milan can recognize me sometimes,

but he would tell me that I have to do frequent makeovers

because of myself and because of the false documents.

Director: So that sounds fun

and quite glamorous, the transformations. Did you enjoy it?

No, I hated it.

They weren't fun to do,

because I liked the way I looked,

and sometimes those transformations

would bother me,

like I lost my identity.

I felt like a doll

that was experimented on.

( Bird squawking )

Mike: Tito died in 1980.

It was like my father had died, just like my father.

I can't explain the mourning.

They took us to visit his mausoleum-- Kuca Cveca it was called.

And you would have to queue for two days

to visit his tomb and pay a tribute to him.

The entire Yugoslavia was there.

( Man speaking Bosnian )

This is when it all started.

We could sense the separation coming from the point

that each republic would have their own president.

( Crowd chattering loudly )

( Slobodan Milosevic speaking in Bosnian )

Mike: The first time I saw Milosevic

was on television.

I saw him during this big rally in Kosovo.

( Milosevic speaking in Bosnian )

The separation and hatred had already started by then,

you know, in every city there was a national ID,

you're a Serb, you're Albanian,

this guy's from Croatia, you know, from Kosovo.

I don't know, great tension, everything was cracking open.

For me, as an Albanian in Montenegro,

the hatred was very visible.

Just pure hatred.

This is where the huge partition started.

( Milosevic speaking in Bosnian )

Milena: After Tito died,

separatist groups in different nations of Yugoslavia

just rose up

and they really contributed

to the final end of that country,

to its dismantling.

Female host: I think that you'll have to agree

that Yugoslavia is a pretty spectacular country,

and we haven't even seen half of it yet.

Tomorrow night, Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia,

Sarajevo, the site of the 1984 Winter Olympics,

and then Dubrovnik, one of the most exciting, unique

and charming little cities in all of the world.

I saw it last night and I can't wait for you to see it.

So I'll see you tomorrow night from Yugoslavia!

( Foreign folk music playing ) not sure how to describe

( explosion )

( automatic gunfire )

Male news reporter: The ethnically mixed communities

of Muslims, Serbs and Croats

have traditionally lived together in peace,

until a majority of the people in Bosnia and Herzegovina voted for independence,

denying Serbia its plans for a newly formed Yugoslavia.

( man speaking in Bosnian )

All the darkness from the Milosevic regime

left a huge mark in people's soul.

Many people were just like...

...to the war zones,

you know, sent to Dubrovnik or Bosnia,

to kill, to rape.

I like this area, I really do.

It's so great.script says green

This is the street where I spent many hours during the '90s

because I demonstrating against Slobodan Milosevic and his rule,

and it has very strong and very fresh memories.

( Chuckles )

I mean, we tried to say look, it's time for you to go,

you are taking us into total disaster.

It is just interesting to pass here after so many years.

Nice street.

Male reporter: It's time to turn up the pressure on Yugoslavia,

the European community decided today.

Behind closed doors they imposed

immediate trade sanctions against Yugoslavia

and the U.N. Security Council has been asked

to co-ordinate an oil embargo.

Douglas Hurd: What we've decided today is

to impose sanctions on the whole of Yugoslavia

and over time that will certainly build into an effective pressure.

I don't know how long.

( Man speaking in Bosnian )

( Lucky continues speaking in Bosnian )

Mike: By the end of '94,

it was the core of the Milosevic regime, activities.

You know, times were such that you didn't know

what tomorrow was going to bring.

You know, you all took this rhythm of "Come on! Come on!"

Smuggling everywhere, crime everywhere,

and nobody thought about real jobs.

I mean, there's no real job.

I had a good deal of money.

When there was a job, cracking safe,

I would go abroad for a month or two.

Yeah, it was a good job, profitable, you know?

We were dancing to the music.

( Eastern European folk music playing )

It was the time of turbo folk music,

every time I hear it I think chaos.

( Woman singing in Bosnian )

Everybody was trying to swindle you, rob you, cheat,

you know, it was bare survival, just deceit after deceit.

There was not a single night that somebody wasn't beaten up or killed.

( Lucky speaking in Bosnian )

Dr. Vesna Bojicic: The black market has flourished under the sanctions.

There is a widespread network of illegal dealings in all spheres,

and it is done with the quiet consent of Serbian government.

Milena: It is the truth that crime erupted during the wars,

which is usual and expected.

Many people became criminals, but not all.

We all had a choice.

It wasn't easy, it was difficult.

I could become prostitute,

or drug smuggler, or oil smuggler.

But I'm not.

( Rain falling )

( thunder crashing )

( Lucky speaking in Bosnian )

Male news reporter: It's not over yet.

Hundreds were kicked out of Kosovo today, literally,

kicked and beaten at the border, within sight of freedom.

( man grunts )

And so the biggest forced exodus in Europe goes on

with enough bitterness to ensure that Albanians and Serbs

will find it hard ever to live together again.

Europe couldn't do much, you know, it was getting too big.

Refugees from Bosnia, from Kosovo, from Croatia.

And 70 percent of these refugees went to Europe.

So all the criminals went to Europe,

and this is the beginning of Pink Panther.

( Woman speaking in Bosnian )

( speaking in Bosnian )

( electronic buzzer rings )

Milena: Some change just happened in 2000,

few people started to rob.

Really, really big values.

( glass shattering )

Okay, they are using guns, this is to scare.

That is the only purpose of gun,

but one of their condition is no victims.

They were actually creating the signature

of what we know now as Pink Panthers.

And as one Panther said,

"After that, you have 10 years of a very good life."

Mike: So we waited for a festival that was about to take place,

and we waited a long time.

( fireworks exploding )

It was some kind of a religious thing,

a fiesta, and music, dancing.

Just some kind of noise, that was what we were waiting for,

some kind of noise that

they couldn't hear us banging through the walls.

( Crowd cheering, whistling )

Mike Skewers: Because the crooks need time,

they are more likely to hit safes on weekends or holidays,

and they are clever about finding ways

to do it without attracting attention.

Mike: There was four of us, plus one guy in a van.

We were completely hidden by the people in the street.

( explosions, people cheering )

We were all dressed up,

we had our masks, bodysuits.

Completely covered up. You couldn't see us at all.

And now the action could begin.

( Man grunts, wall crashing )

We only needed to pickaxe the wall.

In the end there was a hole this big.

And we squeezed through it into the boutique behind.

We knew everything that was in a glass case was alarmed,

but it's a trick, they always do this.

They alarm cheap stuff like a decoy.

But the real booty is in the safe.

So we go to the safe,

we try to take it out with a pick axe...

( grunting )

...but we couldn't.

We were looking at it, and there was, there was no chance.

And then we saw the screws were inside the concrete,

and we had the idea, to lift it up with a carjack,

luckily there was one in the van.

We got out.

We took the safe out of the shop...

- ( thumps ) - ...and we put it in the van.

People around us, fiesta, fireworks, incredible.

( Car engine starts )

The thing is, there's no panic when you do the job.

The panic begins when you run.

( Tires screeching, cars whizzing by )

But we drove away through the people,

and we went away into the woods.

( Car engine shuts off )

We got out by a lake, I remember,

somewhere dark, somewhere safe,

somewhere secure,

and then we began to open the safe.

( safe dial clicking )

You get the safes that are mechanical,

numerical, with locks,

and you get the digital ones.

I can crack them all.

Digital safes, they are the easiest to open.

You know, you take some powder, and you dust them,

and then you can see the fingerprints,

and you know everything.

Numerical ones are the hardest, you know.

You have to use your hearing.

You have to have very good hearing, and a good memory.

This is very difficult.

But in this case, we couldn't open it.

We tried everything-- we made phone calls,

I spoke to, there's another safe expert,

but we gave up that night.

( fireworks howling )

( sighs )

You can't sleep.

You can't sleep, for God's sake.

We all did this together, we are friends,

but with this kind of loot your brain works in a different frequency.

You could have two or three million euros,

and you don't know what will happen.

I don't know, money's money. You can't separate.

If one of us is missing, he could take it all.

( Phone beeps )

Leila: I was in the flat on my own,

I was already worrying why they were not back yet.

They didn't call, no phone calls at all, because that was the arrangement.

I didn't know what was happening,

all kinds of thoughts were going through my head.

I would often cry and I wanted to get out of the flat,

but I was told not to do that.

Sometimes I wouldn't even care about the money.

I waited for him, not the loot.

( Metallic clanging )

Mike: We had to wait for the morning

to buy additional tools that we needed.

We bought two more crow bars, one big, one small.

- ( metallic creaking ) - We took another pick axe,

and we thought we could do something with burning gas.

( raining )

And when we had the tools, we went back to the lake.

and inside we could pick and pick until finished.

( thunder crashing )

It took over an hour to open the safe.

And when you open a safe and you see it's a full, full safe...

...that's the feeling, it's like...

( sighs )

...it's like a feeling you might faint any moment.

I love that.

( Camera shutter clicking )

And in this safe, there was plenty of stuff.

There was really a lot.

We found six bags, that we call call rolls.

It was three stones, three bags of stones,

two with bracelets and one with watches.

In the newspapers, when it came about the robbery,

it said the value, three million.

And if I can only say what else we found inside of the safe,

we found a fake penis.

You say dildo, no?

And I bet you they didn't declare that to the police.

( laughs )

Director: What did they do with the jewels?

We don't know exactly.

What we know is that the jewels are going very fast out of the country

where they committed the robbery.

You know, the day after the jewelry disappeared,

we think that they are going to Italy or Montenegro or Serbia,

and then after it is sold.

Director: So what do you do with the diamonds?

Okay, we bring the stones over here,

to our contact in Belgrade,

but he doesn't have a market in former Yugoslavia,

he has to sell abroad.

But maybe, I don't know, Antwerp?

We would do this job ourselves,

but it's very risky abroad, because you make an offer,

you give it to the guy, they take it, and it's a set up,

and bang, you're killed.

No, we stay in Balkans.

( Timer ticking )

( Lucky speaking in Bosnian )

Director: What do you do then? Do you hide it? Swallow it?

Capt. Herve Conan: They had a false passport

and they were about to cross the border

very easily by plane, by car or by train.

And for them it was a real difficulty to follow them

and to know what they are going to do.

( Lucky speaking in Bosnian )

When they go back to the country,

there was like a protection.

They knew that nobody is going to come

to Montenegro or to Serbia to pick them there,

even if you have an arrest warrant,

because some of them were involved with politicians

and so it was very difficult.

So they knew that, as soon as I have made my robbery,

I go back to the country, there I am protected.

( Lucky speaking in Bosnian )

That's right that in the Balkans they speak

from the Pink's a little bit like Robin Hood,

but that's not a reality.

Normally, about the guys we know,

the money they use, or they have,

they are not going to give that

for the Red Cross or associations or in Montenegro.

You have some who re-invest the money in drugs,

some who put the money in real estate,

and some who just use the money for the fun.

( Roulette ball clanging )

Leila: Then the thing starts changing,

he started gambling, going out all the time,

the money that we had, he started to rapidly spend it more and more.

And then we would start arguing.

I wanted to somehow attract him to live a different kind of life.

I thought, perhaps...

- he needs only one more job... - ( Faucet runs, stops )

and he would change, he would change his life.

But I saw that he wouldn't change for anything or anybody.

He said he wanted me to continue my life,

and that he didn't know

if his life will ever change.

Then I gave up on him.

( Chanting in Bosnian )

Mr. Green: My name is Green and I'm from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

I don't consider myself as one of Pink Panthers,

but I am connected.

In 1996, I joined the Special Operation Unit,

because I knew that the contacts in the Serbian Security Service

would allow me job benefits in the future.

My first criminal job in Bosnia

was to import stolen cars from Europe.

The second job was human trafficking for prostitution,

predominately from Ukraine and Moldova.

So it is only the third phase that we do drugs, cocaine and diamonds.

Nothing in diamonds could be done outside the Serb Secret Service.

America asked United Nations to prevent diamond smuggling

because this war in Sierra Leone was financed by diamond trade.

The Americans requested for every diamond sold in Sierra Leone

had to have a certificate about its origin and everything,

so we actually, my group and myself,

learnt how to make certificates and then how to make clean

illegal diamonds that are ready for the market.

( siren blares )

The first contact with Pink Panthers was when I started

a diamond business in Antwerp.

They would bring diamonds for me.

And my team would process it,

forging diamond certificates and putting real information

that had come from Sierra Leone, and it was mined in this and that place,

and it has certificate of origin, the entire genesis

that the Americans asked the United Nations to establish.

The diamonds are cut, reshaped, and they get smaller.

If it was 30 carats, it's now 15.

( machine whirring )

They are clean in every sense of the word.

It's not possible to prove that they're not clean.

Our biggest clients are Americans.

I would say, although I've never been to America,

my diamonds are on the hands of their brides.

I received information that Al Qaeda also purchased diamonds.

Diamonds have a good exchange value

because they don't leave an electronic trace.

Every transaction over 15,000 euros or dollars is controlled,

but who controls diamonds? Nobody.

You can come out with a tiny bag full of diamonds

and you can buy a boat filled with cocaine.

The first real step

on the real work on the Pink Panthers is 2007,

when Monaco pushed Interpol to make the project work,

to create this project Pink Panther.

And the real job for me, and began at this time,

because at this time we began to say,

okay, they are linked,

in the selling way,

there are a lot of these teams

are linked and working in all Europe,

and we have to do this project so we can put all the information together.

If we take one example, this guy,

we see that he is connected to this guy

because they were arrested together in 2004.

And at the same time, he is connected with this guy,

because they have done a robbery together.

Because we know that between some groups,

there are like a small competition,

who is going to make the biggest robbery.

And we know that there are some targets in the world,

and the first one who is going to make that...

will take the lead on the other teams.

( Tires screeching )

( crash, glass shattering )

Awad Mustafa: Well, the night of the incident,

it was just a regular night out,

hanging out with some friends,

and I got a call from a friend of mine

who informs me that there's a big robbery going on at Wafi.

( Car horn honks )

She tells me that her husband's there,

and he's just sent her on Blackberry

video shot of what's happening.

I immediately headed out to Wafi

and I just saw the police cordoning off the area around it.

( People chattering )

I was standing at the entrance and started clipping pictures

and trying to see what's going on and what's happened.

Out comes the door, the Dubai Police chief.

The first words that have come out of his mouth that night was,

"These were definitely not Arabs.

This was too well organized."

Director: So what happened, you went straight to the mall?

Yes, I went straight and I meet my commanders or so

in the area, and we closed the places,

and we found some glasses in there

in the ground, so the evidence from all the things,

we must to be careful about the place,

and that's what we're doing.

Mustafa: The cars have come out of this main doorway

that's right behind us,

drove straight through onto this road

which connects them to the outside of the mall and into the highway,

where we're gonna retrace the route that they've taken right now.

From this point onwards to the highway,

there are no traffic lights

so the guys had more or less clear access to the roads.

( Police siren blaring in distance )

So, the thieves dumped the cars,

set fire to them, jumped into their getaway car

and now they've disappeared.

The whole thing would have possibly taken them about 10 minutes.

Dr. Farida Al Shamali: Next day morning, early morning,

the two cars were found abandoned and burnt,

one of them more than the other.

Nattar Al Mazeina: He closed all the window of the cars.

When he closed the window, there is no oxygen for the fire inside

and then we find all the evidence inside this car.

We find the gloves, we find some dress,

we find the tanks that were used for the chemicals to burn the cars.

Immediately we know this is organized

from Pink Panther organized crimes,

this is what I feel it immediately when I go back to see the CCTV camera.

( Man speaking in Arabic )

Mustafa: At that time, every single Serbian who's had a record

was picked up and questioned.

( speaking in Arabic )

Director: So how many people did you have working on the job?

Listen, we don't get limit for that,

it depends about what kind of work they will be doing.

Mustafa: Over the next three, four days, they just went frantic.

They kept on feeding information to the Interpol

for the international police force to try to get these guys.

( man speaking Arabic )

Al Shamali: It's not easy for anyone

to do any crime and not leave evidence.

They left evidence that helped us,

because this is forensics,

and that's the beauty of DNA.

( Digital router beeping )

Major Saeed Abdullah Al Saadi: We got information from Interpol

about the DNA, so we were working,

and we knew that the rental car.

But this car, nobody knows where this car is.

Then we found the car,

we decide that we will not take the car,

we will watch it.

( Man speaking in Arabic )

And you find one guys,

they try to open the car and you catch him,

because that's the guy, they sent him to take the jewels out of the country.

We find the jewelry inside this car.

Mustafa: Police, when the arrests were made,

called in a huge press conference.

All the media was there,

laid out the jewelry in front of everybody and said,

we've caught them, we've nabbed them and we're done.

Director: And who were the others then?

- You had a picture of the girl? - Nattar Al Mazeina: Yes.

- But she's not in prison?

- No. But she's in Serbia so maybe she cannot be arrested in Serbia.

I hope they be honest in Serbia, but I know it.

You know, we tried to discuss this with Interpol, we tried to do so.

Director: And so if a member of the Pink Panther gang

watches my film, what is your message?

Nattar Al Mazeina: To be far from our area,

don't try to play with us,

because we are not playing.

Conan: They had a great period between 2000 and 2006,

and the problem for them, is that the connection

between the different police in Europe is a problem for them.

We can exchange information very easily.

And on top of that, with Serbia and Montenegro now,

we have a good connection

and they are cooperating with the western police and Europe,

so for them it's going to be harder

to complete these robberies in Europe.

And that's what Interpol said,

it's one of the first times they have such a project

who gives so many information

and who bring us to so many arrests.

Since 2007,

you have next to 50 people

who were arrested across Europe.

Director: Is it still safe here?

Oh, no, no, no, Montenegro isn't a safe haven anymore.

Montenegro now started to extradite people

because they want to join European Union.

So it's not anymore about doing it and escaping,

you have to protect yourself here as much as there.

But you know, now we lead much more simple lives.

Things slowed down, and you know,

now it's becoming more difficult and more dangerous

because the police know all the tricks.

It would be very nice, you know, to feel secure,

to be in your home, safe.

And this is the consequence of this job:

Paranoia.

You see, now I walk down the street,

and my head goes like a rear-view mirror.

Am I being followed? Does anybody see me?

Anybody follow me?

The habit lingers.

Even now in my pocket I have pills, just in case.

But crisis threw you back in it.

You know, you are used to a lot of money, lots of fun.

We have a reputation, easy money spent, easy money earned.

You know, it burns quickly so when you are left with no money,

you don't know how to do other job.

( Electronic bell buzzes )

Glassey: We have always old teams who work,

who try to make new teams,

and at the same time we have brand new teams,

we have a lot of guys

working in Old Europe.

For me, there is more violence,

already their entrance in the jewelry is not so professional

and there could be mistakes inside

and that could be more dangerous for us

because the attitude of the bad guys could bring us to a tragic end.

Look, I must warn you something,

you cannot say the Pink Panther's era is over,

because you don't know what will happen next.

It is maybe just the end of our generation.

What is going on with the other teams

from other countries that want to do the same?

Maybe we are just witnessing their developing.

Leila: I went back to Dmitrovgrad, bad, very bad.

I was physically and mentally shaken,

and after all that luxury,

I was completely broken down, I was depressed.

But I realized that I have to carry on with my life.

I got married to a man who gave me hope.

He was completely legal, he wasn't corrupt, he wasn't criminal,

but I finally started a new life with him, I started a family.

( Baby cooing )

In my heart, I remain what I was,

Milan is the man I love, but when kids come,

you can't choose, you have one path,

you cannot continue on criminal path.

My mother was very pious

and with her I would sometimes pray to God before bedtime.

But also in those moments of hardship,

I would often go to church

to light up candles, to cry, and think about things.

Director: And do you still believe in God?

Yes, yes, of course.

And I teach my children, of course.

We have to ask for his forgiveness.

And all these people who are criminals,

believe me, they believe in God

more than regular people.

We have to pray a lot more

for his forgiveness.

God is merciful, and maybe he will.

( Electronic theme music playing )

( cow moos )