Today I’m bringing you a story I read last week. In Italy, thieves stole almost 5 million euros’ worth of wine bottles (CNN story), possibly the biggest wine theft in history.
5 million? But how do you steal that much wine?
That’s what surprises me most: it was reported that the theft involved around 30,000 bottles. To steal that much, you need time and several trips. According to reports, they spent the whole weekend taking the goods, and nobody noticed the theft until Monday, when the first workers arrived. What a surprise they must have had, but jokes aside, this is serious because it involves a huge amount of money and may even affect jobs. Honestly, I don’t know.
According to the article, the thieves switched off the alarms before getting to work, so they clearly knew what they were doing. This is a matter for the police, but in my opinion it looks complicated, and I suspect there could have been accomplices inside and outside the facility. I don’t know the area, but you can’t carry out bottles of wine in that volume without anyone noticing.
Apparently they used trucks
According to the news story I’m linking, the thieves apparently used trucks to move the goods. Those trucks must have gone somewhere and, if the police are lucky, maybe someone will find them. Although, from where I’m sitting, I assume they have fake license plates and documents; this operation looks very well prepared. But there’s another issue.
What do we do with the bottles?
Let’s put ourselves in the thieves’ shoes. You’ve just robbed a wine company and you have 30,000 illegally obtained bottles sitting in a warehouse. How do you get rid of them?
Well, the first thing that comes to mind is selling them little by little through online platforms like Wallapop. But that’s a ridiculous number of bottles, and it would take you a very long time to offload them. On top of that, there are storage costs and the risk of the police finding you. You need something fast.
The second option I can think of is shipping them abroad, but this is increasingly controlled, and you could get caught at customs if you send them outside the EU, or at a police checkpoint if they stop your trucks. Definitely possible, but risky.
The last option I can think of is making a deal with a not-so-reputable distributor to sell the goods. But that’s complicated: they risk huge fines and, of course, prison.
What do you think they did, Goguma?
No idea. That’s it, my sweet little Goguma brain can’t take me any further. I’m not a criminal and I have no clue. In fact, as of writing this article I’m not even sure whether they’ve been caught, but I still think the story is interesting to tell.
What would you do with that much wine? Had you seen the news? Let me know in the comments.
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Cover photo: Edouard Chassaigne on Pexels.