'Pink Panther' suspect held in Cyprus
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Rifat Hadziahmetovic was arrested on 18 March as he tried to enter Larnaca airport, Cypriot police said, because he was travelling on a forged Bulgarian passport. An identity check by Cypriot police revealed that he was the subject of an Interpol "Red Notice" – meaning that he was on the agency's international wanted list.
Hadziahmetovic was then arrested on charges of alleged involvement in a 2008 robbery on the Spanish island of Tenerife, Interpol said in a statement from its headquarters in Lyon, France.
Hadziahmetovic appeared in a Cypriot court yesterday and will appear in court on Tuesday for the start of extradition proceedings to Spain.
The Pink Panthers are the prime suspects in a daring robbery not long before Christmas 2008 at the Harry Winston jewellery shop in Paris. The thieves walked into the store and made off with $108m worth of gems.
Some Pink Panther members are already in jail, including three Serbs who were convicted in 2005 for a robbery in Japan, which included a necklace worth $27m. Hadziahmetovic is suspected of participating in other armed robberies in Bahrain, Japan and the United Arab Emirates.
Jean-Michel Louboutin, Interpol's executive director of police services, said Hadziahmetovic has been identified from his fingerprints.
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