It’s about three raids on jewelers in Cologne and a value transporter in Esslingen: the total value of the loot is more than 700,000 euros.
Heavily armed police in front of and in court: A trial against a suspected member of the “Pink Panther” jewel robbery gang began in Cologne’s district court on Tuesday.
The 34-year-old is accused of being involved in three raids on jewelers in Cologne and on a security transporter in Esslingen near Stuttgart in 2015 and 2016. The loot is said to have been worth more than 700,000 euros.
The slim, dark-haired man is said to belong to the gang accused of a year-long series of hundreds of robberies around the world. In one of the accused raids on a jeweler in Cologne-Nippes, the perpetrators tied a victim with pink steel shackles, as the prosecutor explained in the indictment. The 34-year-old is also accused of causing dangerous bodily harm and using an assault rifle in a robbery.
The defendant, who was born in Croatia, had one of his four lawyers explain that he did not want to testify. The man wanted by the international arrest warrant was arrested at Barcelona Airport in September 2021 and extradited two months later.
After reading out the indictment, the defense requested that the main hearing be suspended due to incomplete files. About half an hour after the start of the process, he was initially interrupted.
