DUBAI // With the fourth member of the so-called Pink Panther gang responsible for a US$15 million (Dh54m) jewellery heist now behind bars in Dubai, the emirate’s police are working on extraditing two other men from prisons in Europe as well as arresting three people still at large in Serbia.
Serbian Ilincic Borko, 34, who was extradited to the UAE last week, was third in command of the gang that in April 2007 smashed through the glass doors at Wafi Mall using two cars. Three men used hammers to break a glass display cabinet and gain entry to the Graff shop before gathering up the jewels in sacks. Less than a minute later they sped off with their haul.
Dubai Police chief Maj Gen Khamis Al Muzainah said Borko was first arrested in Monaco after being involved in a traffic accident. He was transferred to Switzerland, then deported to his home country before he was captured again in Spain last year.
“Dubai Police are working to extradite two men serving prison sentences in Liechtenstein and three individuals, two men and a women, who are believed to be in Serbia,” Gen Al Muzainah said. The robbers “smashed into the glass doors while driving in reverse so that the air bags in the car wouldn’t pop out from the impact”, he said.
Dubai Police released video footage of the robbery captured by CCTV from inside the jewellery shop, which includes images of the suspects.
Two men were arrested within weeks of the robbery. Serbian Nicola Milat, 41, who lived in an apartment in Al Refaa, was sentenced to 10 years in jail in Dubai for aiding and abetting the gang. He was released in 2013, while his compatriot Milan Mitlic, 52, was found not guilty on a charge of possession of stolen goods and was released.
Dragan Djor, 38, also from Serbia, was extradited from the Netherlands in 2009.
The men Dubai Police are hoping to extradite from Liechtenstein are Serbian Ljepoja Milan, 38, believed to be the gang’s leader and serving a nine-year prison term, and Bosnian Poznan Duzko, 40, serving an eight-year jail sentence.
The Pink Panther group carried out raids “in 90 countries and carried out 120 thefts”, Gen Al Muzainah said.
The gang’s first heist was in London’s upmarket Mayfair neighbourhood in 2003 followed by raids in Paris, Geneva and Tokyo. Of the gang’s estimated 300 members, most are thought to be from countries formed by the break-up of Yugoslavia, and include former members of the military.
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The Specs:
The Specs:
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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