Posted Wed 20 Jul 2022 at 7:38am
Wednesday 20 Jul 2022 at 7:38am,
updated Wed 20 Jul 2022 at 1:07pm
A former Mexican beauty queen and a Romanian-Dutch accomplice have been arrested in Croatia over the theft of 1.65 million euros ($2.44 million) worth of prestige bottles of wine in Spain.
Their arrests came after a nine-month chase across Europe, police said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Spanish national police said on October 27, 2021 in the western city of Caceres, 45 wine bottles, including one "unique" 19th-century vintage worth 310,000 euros ($460,000), were spirited out in a meticulously planned theft from the cellars of the famous hotel-restaurant El Atrio.
Police investigators believe the woman, a 29-year-old Mexican, who according to Spanish daily El Pais had competed in a beauty pageant in her homeland, distracted El Atrio waiters by ordering room service from the Michelin-starred restaurant after its kitchen had closed.
Meanwhile, her 47-year-old male accomplice slipped down to the wine cellar, opened it with a master key he had stolen during a prior visit, and filled three backpacks with the bottles, wrapping them in hotel room towels for protection, according to the police statement.
The next day, hotel CCTV captured the pair, who had checked in with false Swiss identity documents, checking out at 5.30am and leaving on foot with no forensic trace of their presence left at the hotel leading police to initially believe an organised gang was behind the heist.
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