French Wine Cat Burglar Caught In Police Sting

by Spence Cooper on 21/07/09 at 11:15 am

And took the Petrus, wonder why

Alain Dutournier, head of the Carré des Feuillants, a renowned Parisian restaurant with two coveted Michelin stars, said the 44 year-old wine thief had cut through 130 cables and broken down two armoured doors to reach the 262 of bottles of fine wine. “It was miraculous that any of the bottles were recovered,” Dutournier told the Telegraph. “These were highly organised people.”

The thief used gloves and mobile telephone scramblers to disable the restaurant’s alarm systems which the police later found.

Among the fine wines was a bottle of Romanée-Conti, with a sale price of 7,000 euros (£6,000), as well as several Pétrus and Lafite-Rothschild, amounting to 250,000 euros (£215,000). The average price per bottle was 1,000 euros (£860). After the arrest, police found another 300 bottles in the thief’s garage.

“The same robber is also thought to have been behind the theft of around 100,000 euros (£86,000) worth of wine from the Michel Rostang restaurant, another two star eatery, in June.

“Police had put the thief, known to have a penchant for top wines, under surveillance in March after 400,000 euros (£350,000) worth of top grands crus was swiped from a luxury delicatessen in Paris’ plush 8th arrondissement.”