Watch how a couple stole wine worth $1.7 million from a Michelin star restaurant in Spain

On October 27, 2021, the heist finally takes place. Guevara checks in to the Atrio hotel with a fake Swiss passport. Dumitru enters as a separate guest. They order the expensive 14-course meal from the hotel’s Michelin star restaurant and are given a tour of the wine cellar.

At 2 AM that night, Guevara calls the receptionist, alone at the night shift, and orders a salad. Reluctant, as the guest had just dined on a 14-course meal, the receptionist got her a salad.

In the meanwhile, Dumitru steals the wrong keycard for the wine cellar from the front desk and calls his girlfriend to create another diversion to get the receptionist off the desk.

So, Guevara orders dessert. Reluctantly, again, the receptionist obliges and leaves her post to get her fruit.

This time, the keycard is the right one and Dimitru fills in three bags with wine from the cellar including a vintage from 1806 that was worth $3,30,000.

The couple eventually wrap the bottles with towels to avoid clinking sounds and leave the hotel at the break of dawn.

The theft was discovered a few days later and CCTV footage revealed the criminals fleeing with their loot. The clip was shared online by the police.
The couple evaded arrest for nine months and were eventually caught 1,300 miles away in Croatia, near the border to Montenegro. There was no sign of the wine.

They were sent for trial in Spain where Guevara was sentenced to four years in prison and her boyfriend was sent for four and half. The couple have pleaded not guilty and can appeal their sentences.

The Atrio hotel, in the meanwhile, earned its third Michelin star as for the stolen wine - it was insured. The couple has been ordered to pay $800,000 in damages to the insurers.