A "Pink Panther" jewel thief gang  member escaped from a Swiss prison recently. Fellow "Pink Panther" accomplices used AK-47s to ram a gate and overpower guards.

Milan Poparic, 34, and another inmate, Adrian Albrecht, 52, escaped from a Swiss prison in Orbe, police say.

"Pink Panther" members have now escaped from prison three times in three months, police say.

The "Pink Panther" accomplices rammed the gates of the prison with their cars, cleared away barbed wire, set the prisoners free using AK-47s to overpower guards. They then sped away with them in one of the vehicles, setting fire to the other. Police in Switzerland and France are searching for the men with the aid of police dogs.

Poparic was serving a sentence of six years and eight months. The Bosnian national was found guilty of robbing a jewelry store in the Swiss city of Neuchatel in 2009.  His fellow escapee, Adrian Albrecht, was sentenced to seven years for money laundering, robbery, arson, and other crimes; he is not thought to be a Pink Panther.

The Pink Panthers network is an international crime ring that has robbed luxury watch and jewelry stores in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the United States. INTERPPL dubbed the group the Pink Panthers and notes that they have gained over 330 million euros ($436 million) since 1999.

The guards in the prison were unarmed, but had the aid of officers from a private security firm who had "simple handguns" that couldn't measure up to the AK-47s, a prison spokeswoman said.

Beatrice Metraux, the spokeswoman, said, "This is an invasion, rather than an escape, orchestrated by a heavily armed organized gang."

She noted that the staff of the prison was shaken by the escape and that one person was getting psychological counseling.

The Pink Panthers is made up of about 40 people, police think, many from the Balkans. There does not appear to be any danger to the public, as violence is not usually part of the Pink Panthers' methods, but police warn that they are "dealing with people who were involved in the armed forces during the war in former Yugoslavia."

In May, two members of the Pink Panthers escaped the Bois-Mermet prison along with three others, also aided by accomplices.