Pink Panther Jewel Thief Breaks Out Of Jail

A member of the notorious Pink Panther jewel thieves escaped prison in Switzerland in what could have been a scene right out of a movie.

The prison break involved two accomplices, who rammed the prison’s gate and opened fire on guards while the inmates were outside for exercise.

During the commotion, Milan Poparic, 34, climbed into the car and fled the prison. No one was injured in the incident, reports USA Today. Fellow inmate Adrian Albrecht, who was serving seven years for other crimes, also fled.

The Pink Panther gang is known for stealing more than $436 million in loot in more than 340 robberies. The group apparently has a weakness for very expensive watches.

The jewel thieves were given the name after British police discovered a diamond hidden inside a tube of face cream. The find was reminiscent of the 1963 comedy film.

Police have alerted border guards, the French police, and launched a search for the two missing men, notes the BBC. Many of the thieves, including Poparic, come from the former Yugoslavia. The thief who escaped this week hails from Bosnia.

The group is known for the creative ways they perpetrate their crimes. A spokesman with the prison service added that the gang is believed to have been involved in the breakout. Poparic was serving a six-year sentence for a jewelry store heist in Neuchatel, Switzerland in 2009.

Along with ramming the gates and pushing through several rows of barbed wire, the outside accomplices also came prepared with ladders. Both inmates used the ladders to scale the inner barrier of the prison.

Albrecht, whose crimes include kidnapping, previously escaped from the same jail in 1992. Poparic was the third member of the Pink Panthers jewel-stealing gang to escape from the Swiss prison since May.

There is no word on whether or not Swiss police have any leads in the case.

[Image via ShutterStock]