Spanish police said on Friday (August 5) they had arrested five alleged members of the so-called "Pink Panther" gang of jewel thieves in Barcelona. <br /> <br />A special operations unit from the Catalan police was waiting when the thieves, one armed with a pistol, tried to rob a jewellery store on the city's famous Passeig de Gracia avenue, a police statement said. <br /> <br />The operation was part of a larger investigation with different crime units in Spain, and with the collaboration of the Serbian and German police, the statement said. <br /> <br />Police were able to recover the jewellery the gang was trying to steal. <br /> <br />The Pink Panther gang got their nickname after a 2003 London robbery when a thief hid a diamond in a pot of beauty cream, similar to the plot of one of the Pink Panther movies about an inept French detective played by English actor Peter Sellers. <br /> <br />Interpol, the international crime-fighting agency, estimates the Pink Panther network has stolen more than 334 million euros ($369.57 million) worth of jewellery in around 380 armed robberies between 1999 and 2015.
