Serbian suspect in Galeria Mokotów jewellery robbery brought to Poland from Croatia

Suspect moved from Croatian custody

Warsaw police said a 46-year-old Serbian citizen suspected of taking part in the robbery of a jewellery salon in Galeria Mokotów had been brought to Poland. He was detained in early July 2026 while trying to cross the Croatian-Serbian border and then spent several months in Croatian custody. He was transported to Poland late on Friday, 23 October, and police say he is to be charged on Monday, 26 October. Police credit international cooperation with the arrest, and the investigation was run jointly by Warsaw police and the Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office.

“During months of work, investigators gathered and verified information, analysed the secured evidence and carried out further procedural steps.”

The robbery at Galeria Mokotów

On 30 December 2024, police received a report shortly before 11:00 of a break-in theft at a jewellery salon in the Galeria Mokotów shopping centre. Three masked men entered, and one of them resembled a food-delivery courier, wearing a blue jacket and carrying a backpack. They used tear gas on a security guard and threatened the saleswomen with an object resembling a weapon, which Polsat News describes as a pistol. Hammers then smashed the display cases, and watches and jewellery were taken. Super Express says the raid lasted 86 seconds, while Polsat News puts it at one minute and 26 seconds. A shocked witness told Super Express at the time that it lasted perhaps 30 seconds or a minute. The robbers left through an underground car park on electric scooters, and Super Express reports that one of the bags was lost or dropped on the way out. No staff or customers were hurt.

Pink Panthers link and the haul

According to police findings, the robbery was carried out by the Pink Panthers, an international gang that targets jewellers in many countries. Super Express recalls a 2007 raid in Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, in which the gang drove two stolen cars through the glass doors of a shopping centre and stole diamonds worth millions of dollars, with Interpol joining the hunt for the group. Super Express also reports that the Warsaw raid was planned for weeks, with suspects arriving in the city a month earlier, renting a flat and watching the jeweller. The value of the loot is disputed. Super Express puts the losses at more than 1.5 million zloty and Niezależna at about 1.5 million zloty, while Polsat News gives two million zloty.

Five more men sought

Police have also identified five other men, three suspected of taking part in the robbery and two of helping to prepare it. All of them are wanted under a European Arrest Warrant, according to Polsat News. Investigators secured clothing, caps and a gas canister left by the robbers, and DNA was found on some of these items, Super Express reports. Over the following months officers reviewed surveillance footage and retraced the escape route. The sources do not say whether any of the five has been detained.