And their sidekicks. A beautiful girl. Tonight the latest on a drag net more urgent than ever and unprecedented chance to go inside the gang itself. They told me would you like to participate in a Training Exercise. After 20 years of striking at will, are they finally about to be stopped . Im lester holt and this is dateline. Heres Keith Morrison on the trail of the pink panthers. It happened just over two weeks ago. Good friday. Londons diamond district. What may go down as one of the biggest and most audacious heists in history. Thieves caught only on camera drilled through concrete, stole as much as 100 million in jewels, maybe more. Got away clean. Scotland yard is investigating. The thieves have yet to be identified but people wondered was this the latest chapter in a 25year tale of larsony. Our first chapter. Beginning in monaco. Per capita quite possibly the richest and safest country on earth. Here giant private yachts all but overwhelm the harbor tucked into the tiny pocket cashed carved in the south of france. Sun and money drenched. Or so it once seemed to the former police chief. Its always so low. Why . Its a small territory. We have a lot of police. We have tv all around and the population has no fear to call the police and say i saw something thats not normal. Around monacos casino, the eye popping treasures is protected by a army of security cameras. 400 of those things trained. Everywhere you look there are uniform policeman and a police subsayings substation from one of the jewelry shops. This is one of the best protected kill meters on the face of the globe. Safe, secure, a fortress. But then it happened. June 2007. A perfect day as spring gave way to summer. It was high noon. The surveillance cameras in the jewelry shop 30 yards no more from the police station. A sales woman divided her time between a customer shopping with his child. That man in the suit wandering around the store. The salesman spoke to australias 60 minutes program. A customer was sitting here and was supposed to be a customer so i asked for watches. There was another guy and another with a newspaper and just put the gun on the face of the baby. A gun. Is man motioned his intention to use it. The child shrank back in terror. Got away in a minute and ten seconds. A minute and ten seconds . Yeah. They were not just gone from the jewelry shop. The city could fit into new york central park. In 30 seconds out of the country. So we had one minute to catch them. That was it. How much were those watches worth . Around 600,000 euros. That will make sit up and take notice. Heres the thing. That video is just one of hundreds recorded all over the world. These are heists that play like some sort of twisted criminal movie franchise. But theyre all too real. Copenhagen denmark, a fancy hotel and a jewelry shop off the lobby. Cameras showed a welldressed man entering. And two other men. First pulled a gun and others smashed cases as the first kept watch. Grabbing over 1 million of merchandise along with them. Dubai. A luxury mall in the middle of the day. Startled shoppers clicked on their camera phones as two audis crashed into a boutique. Two men grabbed 14 million worth of jewelry. On their way out they got off a couple of shots and drove off. It all happened in broad daylight in front of surveillance cameras in the steel secure capitols of the worlds wealthiest people. It would take police years to realize it but they were up against a whole new kind of gang. They are notorious and dangerous and persistent. So bold that you could call them commercial terrorists. They can find people in every country. Vicious and precise. Their attack is so quick. People are so surprised. Yet, the years no one realized that all these crimes were connected. It is not a hire arcy structure. Thats what makes them so effective. From the most bejeweled cities in the world. An International Manhunt for this Daring Network of thieves. Well take you inside Law Enforcements battle. Their decadelong investigation to figure out who are these people. Who are their masterminds and how can they be stopped . Well meet some of their women, secret weapons. Very beautiful, beautiful girl. But for every job she would have to change her look. And well see what it may be like to be one of these young criminals in training. I was basically wondering is it really like the movie. And well discover maybe in some ways it is. But at first back to the beginning. We trace the gangs rise. How the heist got more and more daring and the spoils reached the stratosphere. When you talk about hitting a Jewelry Store, they get away with how much merchandise, how much money. Then a pattern detected. The surprising thing that thieves had in common. Home and auto. Lamp squares. Stupid, dumb. Lines. 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The year 1988, the crime apparently isolated. A Diamond Wholesalers vault was ransacked. Now fastforward five years. 1993. Switzerland. The year of the jewelry and watch fair. Three diamonds valued over 3 3. 5 million vanished and three watches worth thousands upon thousands of dollars. Honolulu, a place called the golden boutique, four men said to be dressed in the nines, 1 million worth of watches gone. A pattern was emerging except as we found out, no one could see it at the time. For one thing as former chief told us other problems seemed more pressing back then. In 1993, 1994 the u. S. Had a crime epidemic robberies. Rapes, murders, Violent Crime and early 1993 is when the world trade bombing occurred. Many countries were focused on terrorism as well. There was a another reason, too. This was a pre911 era where companies did not share information. The standard operating proceed was you collect fingerprints, witness testimony and you put it in a database and you compare it against other information from your own country. You dont compare it internationally. Of course, the internet had barely begun. Google was just a funny word. Email only for nerds. Cell phones were still a luxury item back then and connections among National Police forces were rare. All in all, a great time to be an international jewel thief. But then one of the thieves made a mistake. He got caught. 1995 new york city. The fbi arrested a guy named alexander gupkvic for the honolulu robbery and then they checked the records and it turned out the nypd had arrested him back in 1988 for boosting a bunch of diamonds from the diamond district right here. He was a canadian citizen, spoke very little english. He was from yuk slavia. Anybody ever heard of this guy . Well, in fact somebody had. Oko was wanted in the 93 robbery in switzerland. Once more, we learned of the expensive watch he was wearing when Police Arrested him was one of the three stolen from the store in tokyo in 1994. Thats how police linked one man to all the high profile heists. By 1996 he was marking time on the u. S. Prison clock. So with this big fish in Lockup Police told us they naturally assumed they cracked a busy but singular operation. A oneman theft machine. But then something strange. The robbery didnt stop. Far from it. We found reports from all over the globe of these highly distinctive operations, all so similar, quick, inventive, bold. But because Law Enforcement at the time didnt have any way to look at the whole picture, they didnt make the connection. We talked to british journalist who has tracked the history of this gang of thieves. Europe just knew as long as they were over border they would get away with it. So the robbers then out of country after country. The police plotting behind. Where they could fly into a country, commit a robbery, leave and the investigation would be of nationals other than the country. Then finally a few began to see it. We follow the trail to switzerland to speak with this man. An investigator, eequivalent to the fbi. Back then he was one of the cops trying to figure out who these people were. When did you first notice these robberies that were different . I think it was in january 2003. At the beginning there was organized like small gangs. How many gangs were there . Were they acting independently or somehow related . Part of something bigger. So many questions. Not many answers. One day it might be person a, person b. Next day a and c. Even as cops struggled to figure out what was happening, the thieves were getting more and more sophisticated. Bigger schemes. We are in paris, the heart of the world some would say. It would be certainly the world of jewelry in this 200 square meter area. Perhaps more expensive jewelry than in any other place than on the face of the globe. 2001 two men dressed in coveralls melted off the security coding and made off with over 1. 5 million worth of goods. When you talk about hitting a Jewelry Store, they get away with how much merchandise, how much money . It depends. Sometimes it could be consider example 200 watches. The other detectives poured over the video tapes and witness accounts and started to notice one thing the thieves seemed to have in common. There were people coming from serbia. The same place that was home to the thief the fbi nabbed in new york. Few slovak names. Not much to go on. Soon they would get another name, one straight from the movies and the cops would form a real life plan to battle. Coming up, the gang gets a hollywood nickname and seems to enjoy it. The pink panthers that i spoke to also really liked the term. They thought it was funny. But then the thieves make a critical error that could be their undoing. Suddenly we said wow. When datelite continues. For a limitedtime get an escape with up to twothousand total cash back plus sevenfifty conquest cash with a qualifying competitive vehicle in your house. Wish your skin could bounce back like it used to . New neutrogena hydro boost water gel. With hyaluronic acid it plumps skin cells with intense hydration and locks it in. For supple, hydrated skin. Hydro boost. From neutrogena. Strong can take you. Oh my so cool . All the way to the summit. At ts network now has the nations strongest 4g lte signal. It seemed no Jewelry Store was safe from the mysterious and brazen bandit thieves smashing glass cases all around europe. The police step behind struggled with their few pieces to solve a enormous puzzle. And then it happened. The moment when life imitated art and the thieves got their name. London 2003 the flagship store. Here they are, two of them. They work fast. 14 million worth of gems. A rare blue diamond ring. It was the thieves biggest hit yet. Britains biggest robbery ever. The chase in scotland. The Security Guard nabbed a thief on the spot but his acomp his got away and he stashed some jewels with the local fixer and fled the uk. Two months later scotland ladder found the fixer holed up in a london flat with his girlfriend who hid the blue diamond ring in a jar of cold cream. The tactic came straight out of the movie. Return of the pink panther. Clever. Irresistible. The name stuck. From then on if the heists were committed by a serbian the Police Called it a pink panther crime. The pink panthers that i spoke too also really liked the term. They all thought it was funny. Police believed the thieves were flaunting that new monicker. Maybe the name gave them motivation, too. After 2003 the speed and the boldness of their heists as the video shows increased. France, pink panthers painted a bench outside a jewelry shop discouraging potential witnesses from sitting down as they rob the place. 2004 the paris antiques fair under bright lights and heavy security displayed a 16 million diamond. Then the prime ministers wife arrived and eyes were distracted. The diamond vanished. 2005. Brussels, in full view of Jewelry Store surveillance cameras four thieves took axes to the display cases and made off with over 500,000 worth of gems and then in 2007 two pink panthers hit sun drenched super rich monaco. That heist was a critical mistake. Because after the robbery, little monacos police chief decided it was time to get tough. Oh, no, not the way you might think. He didnt hire cops or buy guns. He called interpol. I asked them to organize a meeting between countries who had robberies made by the pink panthers. Its a Global Police organization tracking the worlds criminals. Why did you think that interpol was the right way to go . Because its still the organization where we can share all the information, all the operation and the information about this. It was an almost quaint, even nerdy approach, form a committee. But as former chief, it was a turning point. Monaco should be given credit. It opened the investigation up because countries came together and said we want to talk to you about this robbery that occurred. For the first time cops from Different Countries worked as a team and set up a database and there they were, connections among the robberies they couldnt see before. For example, that heist in dubai, 2007, it would be the panthers most spec tar collar production with the audi cars are driving into a mall. They got cell phone numbers and dna and fingers prints and sent that information to them. The first hit we had we matched it to a pink panther robbery in licktinstein. After 19 years, nearly 100 holdups the cops made the investigation that had been there from the start. We said wow, the pink panthers are engaging in robberies around the world. Investigators told us this was something they had never seen before. A global conspiracy of thieves. As they connected the dots, the panthers to their crime, they made another connection. The water shed moment that unleashed it all. Good evening. November 9th, 1989. Berlin. What a fine night it was. Or so it seemed to most of the world. But it wasnt long before civil wars began to rip apart what was once yukgoslavia. By the year 2000 the wars left behind, all but devoid of work or hope for a future, young me trained to fight turned to crime. These are guys who there was no way out except to become a criminal. Even after those wars turned out this new breed of criminal, another Historic Development in the 1990s made transnational crimes search. The European Union was born and with it relaxed and unguarded borders. With the borders coming down organized crime groups only at a National Level were able to operate much more internationally. Thats when groups of desperate men trained in violence with the ability to cross borders at will began to get a singular idea and the pink panthers were born. Now, the cops had a name and an origin story for these super villains. But to learn how they operate, that would take more digging. And lead to some surprises. Coming up, a rare look inside the gang revealing the secret of their success. Thats where all the real effort goes. And then why the pink panthers have taken on some seductive side kicks. Its much easier to do it as a woman or with a woman. Kicks. Its much easier to do it as a woman or with a woman. Family of jeweled feline treasures. 100,000 to the lady in the leopard print. Sprint told us theyd cut our verizon bill in half. Oh yeah. Wed save a bunch of money on our rate plan by switching to sprint. But we dont need to save money, do we mama . Oh, no. No we do not baby. To the other lady in leopard print. Like daddy always says money doesnt spend itself. 1 million oh, look at that. Oh oh wow. Look at that muscle baby. Its like a workout. Some people are stupid rich. Look at my muscle. For the rest of us sprint will cut your verizon or at t rate plan in half. Just turn in your old phone. Or now, for a limited time sign up for the new unlimited plus plan and get a Samsung Galaxy s6 free. Only from sprint. Lets do, spring black friday. Lets save on every blooming thing. Every trimming thing. Every grilling thing. Spring black friday is here. Lets do this. Celebrate spring with these great offers. The home depot. More saving. More doing. Cottonelle cleanripple texture gets you cleaner, but will it make people confident enough to go commando . How was your wiping experience . Ok. Why do you think ripples are so great . Probably ripples would just clean better. Yeah, why . Just. Would pick up more layers. 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Theres not so much in serbi serbia. No. One thing they could find was a cash of weapons. Some of them were in the army so they know the guns and know how to use a hand or machine guns. They used guns to threaten people and tear gas and force, violence, threat of force and violenc