Jewelry Theft in Japan—Serbian Defendants

Three Serbian nationals have been indicted in Belgrade on charges that they stole jewelry worth ¥3.5 billion (€24.44 million or US$29.15 million) from a shop in Tokyo last year.^[1] The three Serb nationals—Aleksandar Radulovic, Djordjie Rasovic, and Snezana Panajotovic—along with a British national who is the subject of an Interpol red notice, are accused of committing the major heist in the Ginza shopping district in March of this year.^[2] It was broad daylight when the operation was carried out.^[3]

Mr. Rasovic was arrested in Serbia, and Mr. Panajotovic was arrested in Montenegro.^[4] Mr. Radulovic, who is believed to be the leader of the group, was arrested in Denmark, where he is currently awaiting international extradition from that country to Belgrade.^[5] Mssrs. Rasovic and Panajotovic have been charged with organizing a criminal group, engaging in robbery, forging documents, and embezzlement.^[6]

The trial is expected to begin in approximately two months.

Transnational theft and trafficking in gems and jewels where there is an organized criminal syndicate present is becoming an increasingly close-watched category of criminal behavior. Europol, for example, finds that its main priorities “include crimes against persons, financial crime and cyber crime. All of these apply where an organised criminal structure is involved and two or more Member States are affected.”^[7] Obviously, neither Japan nor Serbia are member states of Europol, but it is clear that major, organized theft is important to supranational organizations tasked with addressing transnational crimes.

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[1] 3 Serb Nationals Indicted over Jewelry Robbery in Japan, Kyodo News (via Yahoo!), Dec. 13, 2005.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Fact Sheet on Europol 2005: Mandate, Europol, last visited Dec. 13, 2005; see also The Europol Convention: Annex, Europol, last visited Dec. 13, 2005 (including “organized robbery” as a “serious form of international crime” which Europol can deal with).