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The pair, considered ‘expert thieves’, were caught on the Montenegro-Croatia border after a nine-month police operation.
Detectives recently announced the capture of “expert thieves” of 45 bottles of wine worth more than 1.6 million euros from a Spanish restaurant, following a nine-month search operation that ended in Croatia.
In October 2021, a man and woman staying at the Atrio Hotel and Restaurant in Cáceres, southwest Spain, stole dozens of bottles of vintage French wine, including an 1806 Château D’Yquem, in a robbery that made headlines in all European media.
In their statement, Policía Nacional officials said the robbery “planned in every detail” began with the woman using a false Swiss identity to check into the hotel, while the couple dined at the restaurant and made the traditional visit to the famous cellars of Atrio wines.
“They then went to their room, but the man quickly left it to go back to the pantry,” police said.
“Using a master key he had stolen earlier, he emerged from the pantry with three large sacks, one slung over his back and the other two in his hands, into which he had placed bottles of wine protected by hotel towels.”
While the man was raiding the pantry, the woman had drawn the attention of the kitchen staff asking them to prepare to eat even though the kitchen was closed.
The couple had left the hotel at 5.30 the next morning.
“After extensive investigations officers were able to locate the two suspects, accounting for the long planning they had done for the robbery,” the statement said.
According to the police, the couple had left Spain a few days after the robbery and had moved to several countries in Europe to avoid being tracked down by the authorities.
They were consequently tracked down and caught as soon as they entered Croatia, in a joint operation involving Interpol and Europol.
José Polo, Atrio’s co-owner and manager, had offered to buy back the lost bottles of wine, specifically the 1806 d’Yquem. “More than the bottles of wine, they stole our dreams,” he said earlier this year to Decanter magazine.
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