Dutchman arrested for theft of exclusive wines worth 1.7 million euros from Spanish restaurant cellar Abroad

The 29-year-old woman is said to have distracted staff at the well-known hotel restaurant El Atrio in the western Spanish city of Caceres in October last year by ordering room service when the kitchen of the two-Michelin-starred restaurant was closed. Her 47-year-old companion, meanwhile, snuck into the wine cellar, opened it with a key he’d stolen during a previous visit, and filled three backpacks with the pricey bottles.

One of the bottles contained a unique 19th-century Bordeaux wine (Château d’Yquem) worth 310,000 euros. The Spanish police speak in a statement of a ‘mindly planned’ theft. The woman booked a room at the hotel with a fake Swiss ID. The two had visited El Atrio three times before and, like many guests, had been given a tour of the wine cellar.

While the woman distracted an employee of the closed kitchen about the ordered food, the Romanian Dutchman wrapped the wine bottles in hotel towels in the cellar. With one bag on his back and two in each hand, he went back to the room.

The couple left the hotel at 5:30 am and left Spain a few days later. They were eventually identified by Croatian border guards when they arrived from Montenegro. The Spanish police worked with colleagues in the Netherlands, Croatia and Romania and with Interpol to get them. Spain has asked Croatia to hand them over. The stolen wine bottles have not yet been recovered.