Spanish police have arrested a woman in connection with the pouring away of 60,000 litres of quality wines to a value of some €2.5 million ($2.7 million), national public broadcaster RTVE and other media reported on Friday.
The Guardia Civil confirmed that a woman previously employed in a wine cellar had been arrested in Villaescusa de Roa some 40 kilometres north of Madrid. She has been conditionally released, as there is not believed to be a risk of flight, they said.
Investigators suspect that the woman acted out of vengeance after being fired by Bodegas Cepa 21 cellars. The crime took place in February in Castrillo de Duero some 150 kilometres north of Madrid. The incident was widely reported in Spain and abroad.
Bodegas Cepa 21 head José Moro told the La Vanguardia newspaper that the arrest had given him a "bittersweet feeling" but that he could still not understand "how a sacrilege of this kind could have been perpetrated."
Moro expressed sadness at the fact that the wine could not have been enjoyed, quite apart from the "economic blow" to his business.
The crime was recorded by security cameras in the early hours of February 18. Images published in the media showed a masked figure entering the cellar storeroom in the Ribera del Duero wine region at around 3:30 am and opening the taps of five steel tanks within a minute.
Malabrigo and Horcajo wines were among those poured away. From the outset, it was assumed that the intruder knew the cellar's layout.