With a clever plan, a couple in Spain pull off a big coup: they check into a luxury hotel, have the wine cellar shown to them - and steal bottles worth millions. Nine months later the thieves are caught. Now they have to go to prison for several years.
You have planned everything carefully. With false passports and a sophisticated diversionary maneuver, a former beauty queen from Mexico and her partner steal 45 bottles of wine in Spain - worth 1.6 million euros. The pair of crooks then managed to escape, as reported by the Spanish newspaper "El País". But when they arrive at the border between Croatia and Montenegro, the investigators track them down. The two are charged - for their theft they now have four years in prison.
In October 2021, Priscila G. checks into the luxury hotel "Atrio" in the Spanish city of Cáceres near the Portuguese border with a fake Swiss passport. After a 14-course meal, she and her boyfriend Constantín D. let themselves be guided through the house's wine cellar, according to the Spanish media. The next morning, at around 2 a.m., the couple finally start their coup: Priscila G. asks the only receptionist at that time to prepare a snack for her. While she is distracted, D. sneaks into the hotel and steals the electronic key that locks the valuable wine cellar.
From there it has to be quick. D. stows the expensive bottles in a backpack and two suitcases - so as not to attract attention with the clinking of the bottles, he wraps them in towels. Now they just have to wait until the next morning. At around 5 a.m., G. and her boyfriend finally check out of the hotel with their loot. Their prey are by no means average bottles of wine. According to the NZZ, a "Château d'Yquem" from 1806 is among them. The restaurant's wine list lists it at 350,000 euros and comes from one of France's most famous wineries in Bordeaux.
The investigators are doing everything they can to find the fugitive couple. International forces are looking for Priscila G. and Constantín D. The two managed to go into hiding for nine months before they were finally caught and taken back to Spain.
A court in the Extremadura region has now sentenced both to four years in prison, according to the news portal "La República". It is said that the couple took great care in the planning. So they would have scouted the hotel three times. According to the Spanish media, while D.'s lawyer tried to sow doubts about her client's perpetration, G. remained silent in court.
However, neither helped. In addition to the prison sentence, there is also a high sum of damages: the ex-beauty queen and her boyfriend have to pay the insurance company around 750,000 euros, with which the hotel compensated after the theft. The valuable wine has not been found to this day.
