This was the robbery in Atrio: Swiss passport, wig, English accent and extreme kindness for a coup of two million euros

• Events A theft of a movie and a millionaire dismantles the luxury winery of the Atrio de Cáceres restaurant

The couple suspected of the heist of the century in

, the gastronomic temple par excellence of

, is around 40 years old. The woman, with a prior room reservation, first arrived at the hotel complex on Tuesday night, nestled in the heart of the old town of Cáceres. She was well dressed, probably with a wig - according to the hotel manager - and she only carried a backpack among her belongings. He showed a Swiss passport for identification. He spoke at all times, as his companion who would later join the dinner, in English. They immediately paid the bill after dinner. They were extremely friendly and very polite. They visited the cellar and went up to the room.

So they did not raise any suspicions among the employees, but at dawn they took the best of the luxurious and emblematic Atrio winery,

with an approximate value of more than two million euros. A clean, conscientious blow, well thought out and better executed. In fact, it was not until 1:30 p.m. the following day, when the lunch services began to be prepared and one of the

entered the cellar, when some bottles were missing. The lighting in the cellar had been changed a few days ago.

A blow, for the moment, perfect, which has caused members of the

, experts in this type of robbery, to have joined the agents of the police station of the city of Cáceres to investigate the case . For now, the images of the video surveillance system that the hotel has, a world gastronomic temple for all kinds of personalities and celebrities in the last three decades, have already been seized.

The night watchman in charge of security that Atrio has hired did not suspect the couple either. This person monitors both the interior and exterior of the complex with a camera service (which includes the hotel and the restaurant, where the winery is located on the ground floor) and it was, precisely, the one who attended at dawn -about 01.30 hours- the requirements of the suspects, who requested some food because, despite the juicy dinner, they argued that they had been left hungry. The watchman warned them that the kitchen was already closed, but they insisted a lot so in the end he went to prepare a salad for them. "Our philosophy is to never say no to a client", highlights

, one of the two owners of Atrio - along with

, to

.

Not happy with that, the couple also begged for dessert, probably to buy more time.

And it was in those minutes -between 10 and 15- where they took the opportunity to access the cellar through a door.

They had to do it in the dark, presumably using a flashlight, and once inside these rooms go directly to get the most valuable bottles and bring them up to the room in several bags.

The person in charge of security later found the access door to the open area but thought that it was some carelessness of these two clients and did not give it much importance.

Great hearth

The bottles have a great tradition, carved during the 35 years of existence of the restaurant, whose cellar is classified as one of the greatest treasures in the select world of wine at exorbitant prices.

Among them, the famous

, from the year 1806, of the

group

, with an incalculable value,

which was offered in the letter for 305,000 euros "but he would never have sold it," says Polo himself.

Another 38 of those stolen are from the

winery

.

All French.

A clean, premeditated, perfectly organized and "surely commissioned" hit, he suspects.

After removing the bottles from the cellar, they went to sleep but only for three hours.

A few minutes after 05.00 in the morning they were already at reception to

.

They paid with a card and left the hotel - which belongs to the

chain

- carrying different bags, it is assumed that with the 45 bottles distributed in them, to set out through the alleys of the historic center of Cáceres and lose themselves in the darkness of the night.

Other restaurant

Polo was working that night in a nearby restaurant that they acquired in December of last year, also with tradition in the city of Cáceres,

, so in the hours of the dinners he moved between both establishments, attending and greeting the diners at the tables as he usually does. Among those in Atrio there were a Portuguese artist, Belgians, Chilean tourists ... The usual thing in this attractive and exclusive world gastronomic hub. "There was a table that a lady had reserved - the one who supposedly then struck - but we couldn't locate it, perhaps, we thought then, because we hadn't picked up the phone properly, but she finally arrived, alone, with a backpack, which we didn't know. It was nothing strange, and when she came down to dinner she said that a friend of hers was coming to share a table with her, "Polo recalls.

As with the rest of the tables, José approached to speak with them: "They were extremely nice, very kind, they told me that they had been surprised by the texture of the dishes, the taste so different between them" and around 11:30 p.m. they showed them the winery, such a common circumstance among customers due to its fame, "but they did not notice anything special or ask about anything in particular."

The only visual clue that the Police have of the 'white glove' couple is the recording of the hotel's own images, which has security cameras installed, including the one placed in the upper left part of the access to the winery and which focuses the access door to it. The locks are magnetic and not all staff have access to the various compartments, including the cellar, of the hotel and gastronomic complex. Those placed by the City Council in the streets surrounding the hotel could also have been helpful, but according to José they only collect the circulation of vehicles and not of people. And the alleged robbers left the hotel on foot and not by car: "There are no images of them outside," José corroborates. Your destiny? At the moment nobody knows. "I imagine that they will also investigate us, for that of the insurance, it is normal ", underlines José, who anyway warns:" Until today the duel has lasted us, neither the hotel nor the restaurant are closed to continue working, let's go to continue, no one has ever given us anything and the secret is at work, and now even more so with all the signs of solidarity that we have been receiving since the news broke ".

Solidarity

The co-owner of Atrio, in addition to suspecting that the coup was commissioned, surely by a capricious millionaire, has little hope of recovering the valuable bottles, not even the one that represents his great flagship, the 'Chateau d'Yquem', which in In 2000 it even had to be restored after suffering an accident in the winery itself: "It broke around the neck area and we had to go to Bordeaux, where the winery is located, to repair it." There is no consolation for such a symbolic disappearance: "We went from not wanting to tell what had happened to deciding to tell it, also so that other wineries take extreme security measures. At first - be honest - it was like 'undressing' in front of people, giving all the details, they have been very hard moments,But it is also helping us to remove the sadness that we have inside and the response is being impressive not only from colleagues in the sector, such as Pitu Roca, the man who knows the most about the world of wines, but also from cooks, waiters ... Incredible, because this is not a question of money but of our effort and of the people, of our workers, some of them for so many years, and we are receiving really exciting and beautiful writings ", José consoles himself, still with the wounds present in his heart His partner, Toño, is having even worse "but we will get over it."because this is not a question of money but of our effort and that of the people, of our workers, some of them for so many years, and we are receiving really exciting and beautiful writings ", José consoles himself, even with the wounds present in his heart His partner, Toño, is having even worse "but we will get over it."because this is not a question of money but of our effort and that of the people, of our workers, some of them for so many years, and we are receiving really exciting and beautiful writings ", José consoles himself, even with the wounds present in his heart His partner, Toño, is having even worse "but we will get over it."

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