Member of Pink Panther robbery gang arrested

A suspected member of the notorious Pink Panther gang of jewellery thieves believed responsible for hundreds of robberies across the world has been arrested in Spain, police said.

Borko Ilincic, 33, was arrested in the central town of Alcala de Henares police said in a statement.

The Serbian was carrying a false Bosnian passport.

A national court official said a judge ordered that Ilincic be kept in jail while the United Arab Emirates starts extradition proceedings.

He can be held for up to 40 days.

Interpol says Ilincic is a suspect in the 2007 Wafi Mall robbery in Dubai where the robbers made off with around €11m in jewellery.

The Pink Panther group, named after the 1963 movie starring Peter Sellers, is believed to be a loose network of some 800 criminals, which Interpol suspects is behind nearly 300 robberies in 35 countries since 1999, stealing jewellery worth some €350m.

In 2007, the gang drove two cars into a Dubai shopping centre and through the window of a jewellery store, sweeping millions of dollars worth of gems from displays, in a raid that lasted less than a minute.

The following year, the gang stole jewellery worth up to €85m after entering the Harry Winston jewellers in Paris disguised as women.

The gang got its nickname after a London robbery in 2003 when a thief hid a diamond in a pot of beauty cream, similar to the plot of one of the Pink Panther movies about an inept French detective.