London Warehouse Heist Nets 400 Cases of ‘Rare’ Wine, Police Say

Around 400 cases of wine, worth an
estimated 1 million pounds ($1.63 million), were stolen from a
warehouse in London and two men have been arrested so far,
police said.

“The stolen stock is rare and valuable,” Detective
Constable Ash Rossiter said. “It may be the aim of those who
have stolen it to try and sell it to private collectors or
auction houses.”

The men broke a padlock and disabled closed-caption
television cameras to break into the facility, London’s
Metropolitan Police said in an e-mailed statement today. The
wine, some owned by private investors, was at a warehouse in the
Bethnal Green neighborhood of East London.

Six men used a forklift to load wine into two white vans
and a brown and blue truck on May 21 or May 22, police said. Two
men, aged 40 and 50, were arrested on suspicion of burglary.

The police are offering a 5,000-pound reward for the return
of a “substantial” part of the stolen wine.

To contact the reporter for this story:
Lindsay Fortado in London at
[email protected].

To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Anthony Aarons at [email protected].

Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-25/london-warehouse-heist-nets-400-cases-of-rare-wine-police-say.html