Police arrest 11 linked to Balkan cocaine ring, including alleged member of “Pink Panthers” jewel heist gang

Police in the Balkans arrested 11 alleged members of a criminal syndicate responsible for smuggling cocaine from South America to Europe, Croatia said Wednesday, in the latest effort to crack down on traffickers. Among the people arrested was a suspect who is also wanted for his alleged membership in the notorious “Pink Panthers” jewel heist gang.

The arrests were carried out during raids Tuesday that saw police seize weapons, large amounts of ammunition along with luxury cars and cash, Croatia’s interior ministry said in a statement.

The so-called Balkans route is a vital transit network long used by criminals to smuggle drugs, weapons, and people into western Europe.

Eight suspects were arrested in Serbia, while two were taken into custody in Bosnia and another individual was apprehended in Croatia, the statement added.

“The cocaine dealers used different maritime routes… and are linked with the seizure of more than 500 kilogrammes (1,102 pounds) of cocaine… in 2021 at Croatia’s port of Ploce,” the statement said.

The drugs — worth a potential street value of 50 million euros ($53 million) — were hidden in a cargo container, and the ministry released several images showing packages of the cocaine.

“The seizure showed the international drug smuggling groups increasingly target smaller EU ports,” the ministry added.

One of the suspects arrested in Serbia was also wanted for his alleged membership in the Pink Panthers jewel heist gang — a notorious international criminal network that has drawn many of its members from the Balkans. As “60 Minutes” reported in 2014, the Pink Panthers have done jobs in dozens of countries, and many members fought in the Serbian special forces during the Bosnian wars.

In recent months, members of Balkan cartels and gangs have been linked to major cocaine trafficking operations.

In June, European police forces arrested about 40 people in a years-long operation to bust a major drug smuggling ring, leading to the seizure of eight tons of cocaine. Many members of the network were from countries in the Balkans, Europol said.

“Serious assessments are that the Balkan cartel is responsible for the supply of… more than half of cocaine” in Europe, a Croat police officer, Tomislav Stambuk, said at the time.

A month later, Spanish police announced the takedown of a major network transporting Latin American cocaine into Europe by boat in an international operation involving 50 arrests across eight countries.  The network included members of the so-called Balkan cartel who were “living the high life” in Spain’s southern Costa del Sol, police said.