Mexican beauty queen arrested in $1.6M wine heist, Spain cops say. The wine is missing
A Mexican beauty queen and her Romanian-Dutch accomplice were arrested in a wine heist worth over $1.6 million, Spanish authorities said. The pair pulled off a “meticulously planned” theft that led police on a nine-month chase across Europe — but, according to media reports, the wine is still missing.
Atrio Restaurant Hotel is nestled in the old town center of Cáceres, Spain, about 185 miles southwest of Madrid. The place attracts many for its renowned wine collection — including, in October 2021, a pair of visitors who were not going to leave empty-handed, Drinks Business reported.
The pair, identified by local outlets as a 29-year-old Mexican beauty queen and 47-year-old Romanian-Dutch man, visited Atrio three times to study the location and plan their heist, Reuters reported.
The fourth time, Oct. 27, 2021, the woman checked into Atrio’s hotel with fake Swiss documents, wearing a wig and sunglasses, VICE reported.
That evening, the man joined her for dinner at Atrio Restaurant, and the staff took them on a tour of the wine cellar, a common occurrence, according to a July 19 news release from Spain’s National Police.
Later, the pair went to their room. The man immediately left again, headed for the wine cellar. Just after 1 a.m., the woman called the receptionist for room service, VICE reported. The kitchen was closed for the night, but the receptionist agreed to make a salad.
With the staff distracted, the man entered the wine cellar using a previously stolen master key and packed 45 bottles of wine into three large backpacks, using hotel towels to cushion the wine, authorities said.
The stolen wine is estimated to be worth more than $1.6 million, Drinks Business reported. The most expensive bottle, a sweet 1806 Château D’Yquem from a world-renowned French winery, is worth more than $310,000, authorities said.
The pair left the hotel by 5:30 a.m. the next day — shortly before the employees noticed the missing bottles of wine, the release said.
Days later, they left Spain, and the trail went cold, VICE reported. In January, the pair popped up in Romania before vanishing again.
On July 19, the pair tried to cross the border from Montenegro to Croatia. Interpol stopped them and arrested them, Reuters reported. The wine bottles have not been recovered.
Spanish authorities described the heist as having “great professionalism, specialization and perfect planning” — at least until the suspects were caught, Newsweek reported.
The pair will be extradited from Croatia to Spain to face charges, NDTV reported.
The man had two outstanding warrants for his arrest in Madrid, police said in a news release. According to VICE, he was previously arrested there for stealing expensive wine.
José Polo, co-owner of Atrio Restaurant Hotel, has expressed his distress of losing the 1806 Château D’Yquem, “That bottle was part of my personal history, almost part of me, of the history of Atrio, but also of Caceres, of its citizens, of wine lovers all over the world,” he told a local outlet, Reuters reported.
“More than the bottles of wine, they robbed our dreams,” Polo told local media, according to CNN.
This story was originally published July 22, 2022 at 11:06 AM with the headline "Mexican beauty queen arrested in $1.6M wine heist, Spain cops say. The wine is missing."
