Star chef in shock after major wine theft: 'It's totally an Olsen Gang heist'

A star chef is in shock after a major wine theft: 'It's totally an Olsen Gang heist'

The perpetrators found blind spots and bypassed both sensors and alarms when they managed to steal wine worth several hundred thousand kroner.

Thieves cut a hole in the hardened glass pane at Wassim Hallal's two-star Michelin restaurant Frederikshøj, which they crawled through to empty the wine cellar of the restaurant's most expensive wines. Photo: Kim Haugaard/Ritzau Scanpix 7 min. ago

The wine cellar at the gourmet restaurant Frederikshøj in Aarhus was stripped of rare and expensive bottles late Wednesday evening in a well-oiled heist.

- It was planned down to the smallest detail. It's totally an Olsen Gang heist, says head chef and co-owner Wassim Hallal.

The thieves cut a 40-centimeter hole in a pane of hardened glass, through which an adult then crawled. If the pane had been smashed, the alarm would have been triggered, says Wassim Hallal.

> It was planned down to the smallest detail. It's totally an

> Olsen Gang heist.

After that, they managed to crawl along the paneling in a blind spot for the alarm sensors.

- Then they crawled into our wine cabinet, where they stood for a couple of hours enjoying themselves selecting what they wanted. They were ice cold, says Wassim Hallal.

The two-star Michelin restaurant's camera surveillance reveals how meticulously everything was planned.

- There are cars driving into the woods, and people handing each other the bottles from hand to hand all the way down through the parking lot. So there have been more than just two men who organized the whole setup, says the star chef.

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Close to being discovered

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Even when the thieves were about to be exposed, they kept their cool before continuing.

- We can see on our outdoor surveillance that a runner comes by the parking lot at one point, and they react by taking a step into the woods, and when the runner is gone, they start again.

* (© Restaurant Frederikshøj)

* (© Restaurant Frederikshøj)

* (© Restaurant Frederikshøj)

1 / 3 (© Restaurant Frederikshøj) 1 / 3 (© Restaurant Frederikshøj) 2 / 3 (© Restaurant Frederikshøj) 3 / 3

Wassim Hallal is deeply puzzled that the wine heist could happen.

He had the restaurant approved by his insurance company for the highest security rating as recently as December and has advanced surveillance and alarm systems.

- Yet there was a blind spot. And they knew about it, even though I and the staff didn't, so I have no idea how the hell it could happen, says Wassim Hallal, who has already had the alarm sensors adjusted.

- Well, that blind spot no longer exists, I can tell you that.

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Irreplaceable bottles

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Wassim Hallal is convinced that a professional group of wine thieves is behind it.

The insurance is still assessing the value of the stolen bottles, but Wassim Hallal estimates that more than a million kroner worth of wine may have been stolen. Plus everything that was damaged in the restaurant.

But for the head chef, it's about more than money.

- Some of the bottles they took have been with me throughout my entire career. These are wines I started collecting more than 25 years ago, which I have stored and preserved perfectly.

- They are old bottles that meant something to me and cannot be obtained again.

Restaurant Frederikshøj has published a list ( https://www.instagram.com/p/DfXRJ5guOBK/ ) of the stolen wines and urges wine connoisseurs to contact them or the police if they are offered the rare bottles.

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Here are some of the 87 rare bottles the thieves stole:

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1996 Morey-Saint-Denis 1. Cru "Clos Sorbès" Dominique Laurent

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2007 Clos Saint-Denis Grand Cru, Lucien le Moine, DB. Magnum

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2011 Vosné Romanée, Confuron-Cotétidot

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1993 Chateau Mouton Rothschild

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1975 Château Latour

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2001 Château Margaux

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2015 Château Cheval Blanc

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1970 Château Latour à Pomerol, Pomerol

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2006 Screaming Eagle

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2011 Screaming Eagle - Second Flight

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2011 Chateau Lafite-Rothschild

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2004 Chateau Latour

Source: Restaurant Frederikshøj

The full list can be seen on their Instagram profile. ( https://www.instagram.com/p/DfXRJ5guOBK/ )

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