Larnaca police apprehend elusive 'Pink Panther'
By John Leonidou

Larnaca police have arrested what they believe to be the mastermind behind a gang of international jewel thieves dubbed the 'Pink Panthers'.

Montenegrin national Rifat Hadziahmetovic, 41, was picked up by Larnaca police on March 18, while travelling on a forged Bulgarian passport as he tried to leave Larnaca Airport for Beirut. A Larnaca District Court recently ordered Hadziahmetovic to remain in police custody until the extradition procedures are complete.
This week, efforts were underway in court to extradite Hadziahmetovic to Spain.
He was originally detained on charges of travelling on a forged document, but an identity check with Interpol revealed that he was on the agency's wanted list.
He is currently wanted by the Spanish authorities in connection with the heist of a jewellery store in Santa Cruz, Tenerife in which €660,000 worth of watches were stolen.
Interpol had stated that men wearing ski-masks and holding guns had bust into the store and immobilised employees before escaping with the loot.

Interpolofficials have stated that the Pink Panthers are believed to be mainly from countries in the Balkans and are the prime suspects in a series of jewel thefts worth more than €112.5m over the past decade in Europe, Asia and the Persian Gulf.
CID investigators in Larnaca and Limassol have not ruled out the possibility of Hadziahmetovic being behind a series of jewellery robberies in the two districts.
One jewellery shop in Larnaca was broken into after the culprits broke in via the empty shop next door before cutting off the electricity supply. Investigators had described the robbery as "an expert operation".

The arrest of the one of the world's most notorious thieves by the Cypriot police was greeted with high praise from Interpol.
Interpol's executive director of police services, Jean-Michel Louboutin, in a statement said: "(Hadziahmetovic's] arrest is yet again an example of the results which can be achieved by law enforcement around the world sharing information through Interpol, which can then be followed up by police on the ground."

The same official also commended the "thorough" work of the Cypriot police, adding that the suspect had been identified from his fingerprints.
The gang had been aided by a Scottish woman who had worked as the gang's administrator.

Dorothy Fasola, 57, was accused of helping the Pink Panthers' €16.4 m armed raid on a Tokyo boutique. A trial in 2007 heard that the businesswoman helped the gang by buying airline tickets, obtaining fake Czech and Croat passports and booking hotels.
Fasola is serving prison sentences of almost five years.

Cyprus Weekly 3 - 10 April 2009