Sabotage in Spain

Burglar removed top-class wine from steel tanks

Images from the surveillance camera show the attack. The police are searching for the unknown man.(Bild: twitter.com/Cuerpospolicia1)

The Spanish police are investigating sabotage at a winery. An unknown perpetrator opened several steel tanks in a well-known winery on Sunday night, causing around 60,000 liters of top-class wine to flow out.

The suspected act of sabotage took place in Castrillo de Duero around 150 kilometers north of the capital Madrid and was recorded by security cameras, the Europa Press news agency and other Spanish media reported on Monday. They referred to the head of the company affected, Bodegas Cepa 21, José Moro. It was certainly not an attempted theft, they said.

In the middle of the night, a masked person entered the winery's storage room at around 3.30 a.m. and opened the taps of five steel tanks containing wine, including the premium brands Malabrigo and Horcajo, in less than a minute, they said. Recordings from a surveillance camera showed that the intruder obviously knew his way around the winery in the prestigious Ribera del Duero wine region, Moro said.

Owner has a suspicion
The mysterious break-in is puzzling. It could be an act of sabotage or revenge, the media speculated. The president of the winery said that they had a slight suspicion, but did not want to say anything publicly so as not to hinder the police investigation.