Spanish police arrested Two professional thieves accused of stealing more than $1.6 million worth of wine from a hotel restaurant in the south of the country .
The man and woman escaped from prison for nearly nine months before being arrested at the Montenegro-Croatia border on Tuesday for stealing 45 bottles of wine from the Atrio restaurant (two Michelin stars) in Cáceres, western Spain according to a statement from Spain’s national police.
The total value of the stolen wine was €1,648,500 and an individual bottle was valued at €310,000, police said.
The robbery took place on October 27, 2021, and was planned in “minute detail”, with the robbers visiting the restaurant three times to prepare the attack, officials said.
The suspects “demonstrated a high level of professionalism, expertise and planning,” the police statement added.
Investigators discovered that the woman made the reservation at the Atrio hotel using a fake Swiss document and had dinner at the restaurant with her accomplice.
Both suspects were then taken to tour the cellar by staff, which is a common occurrence, according to police.
They then went upstairs together to the hotel room, but the man left a few moments later and returned to the basement.
He entered using a stolen passkey and emerged a few minutes later with three large backpacks full of stolen wine, stuffed with hotel towels to cushion the bottles.
As he stole the wine, the woman distracted staff by asking them to prepare food, police said, even though the kitchen was already closed.
The team noticed the missing bottles the next morning, but the suspects left the scene at around 5am.
The thieves left Spain a few days after the robbery and traveled through several European countries, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact location of the agents, police said.
But the authorities finally caught up with them entering Croatia from Montenegro at the Karasovi Sutorina border.
Spanish police praised the “perfect coordination” between national and international investigators from authorities such as Interpol.
At the time of his arrest, the suspect had two more outstanding warrants from a court in Madrid, police said.
The most valuable bottle was a Château D’Yquem 1806, José Polo, co-owner and sommelier of the restaurant, told “Decanter” magazine in November 2021.
Polo said he would buy back the bottles stolen from the thieves, in particular the 1806 Château D’Yquem.
“More than wine bottles, they stole our dreams,” he told Decanter.
Source: CNN Brasil
