Copenhagen police search for thief who stole, then abandoned, $1.3M vodka bottle

The bottle was found empty on a construction site.

ByABC News
January 8, 2018, 1:56 PM

— LONDON -- Danish police are looking for a thief who stole and later abandoned what is believed to be the world’s most expensive vodka bottle.

CCTV footage of the theft shows a masked man with a flashlight searching for the bottle in the basement of Café 33, a pub in Copenhagen, before grabbing the $1.3 million bottle and running off. The man used a key to enter the bar, said the owner Brian Ingberg.

The bottle is made of gold and silver and the cap is diamond-encrusted. It was created by Latvian car manufacturer Dartz Motorz, and the owner had lent the bottle to Ingberg who has a large collection of fine spirits in the basement of his bar.

PHOTO: This image taken from CCTV provided by Brian Ingberg, shows a man stealing a bottle of vodka from Cafe 33 bar in Copenhagen on Jan. 2, 2018.
This image taken from CCTV provided by Brian Ingberg, shows a man stealing a bottle of vodka from Cafe 33 bar in Copenhagen on Jan. 2, 2018.

On Friday, Copenhagen police said that the bottle had been found. It was discovered by workers on a construction site in Charlottenlund, north of Copenhagen, said Riad Tolba, a Copenhagen police spokesperson.

"Just because the bottle has been found doesn't mean that we will stop looking for the person who stole it," Tolba told ABC News. The bottle was found empty, but Tolba said he doesn't know if the thief drank the vodka. "I can only note that the bottle was found empty, but intact," he said. The bottle is now being examined for DNA, fingerprints and other clues that might lead to the perpetrator.

Tolba declined to say if the police already have an idea of who the thief might be and said he doesn't know why the bottle was left behind.