A whisky distillery manager believes £150,000-worth of stolen bottles of Glenfarclas Scotch have been hidden by thieves.
Callum Fraser who works at the Speyside distillery says that someone, somewhere knows where the 20 bottles of rare whisky are.
He says that he is just waiting for the culprits – or someone else who knows -to tell him or the police, where.
Thieves struck at the Glenfarclas Distillery in Ballindalloch early on Sunday May 15 2022.
While the whisky was stolen from the Moray distillery a year ago, Mr Fraser says he believes the bottles have not yet been sold.
Instead he thinks they are sitting somewhere – waiting until the publicity has died down.
The whisky is hiding somewhere
Mr Fraser, who works for the Grant family at one of the few remaining family-owned distilleries in Scotland, said whoever took the bottles “needs to do the right thing”.
He said: “The whisky is still hiding somewhere.
“We have lots of people in auction houses in the Uk, Europe and beyond who are looking out for it.
“And we have had emails from all over the world. So I don’t believe it has come onto the market.
“Someone, somewhere will have information and I am urging them to contact the distillery or the police.”
Mr Fraser said that the theft was well planned, and the thieves used a car on B-roads, and they did not park in the car park.
Chillingly he said that he had seen into the eyes of one of the two men wanted for the crime.
He said: “For two seconds, before they tampered with the cameras I saw into the eyes of one of the men. So we have footage of him.
“The good thing to come out of it, is that while we had good security before – we now have systems in place thanks to advice of the police and experts.
“We are like a family, those of us that work from the Grant family, and this hit us all because it was a well-organised and arranged theft.”
Because of the way in which the theft was planned, Mr Fraser believed there was a good chance that staff had come face-to-face with the criminals as they cased the distillery.
At the time, police said the culprits had grabbed the “oldest and most valuable” bottles from the site.
They were particularly keen to speak to two men, who were seen the night before the break-in, and appealed to hoteliers and motorists to come forward if they had seen anything suspicious.
Stolen Glenfarclas whisky
Today, officers renewed their appeal and stressed no piece of information was too small.
Detective Constable Lucy Cuthbert said: “Inquiries into the theft from the Glenfarclas Distillery are still very much ongoing and I would like to thank everyone who has come forward with information so far.
“We would encourage anyone with any further information about the break-in to get in touch. No matter how small it may seem, it may be the crucial piece of information we need in order to catch those responsible.
“We would also urge anyone who has been offered a bottle of the stolen Glenfarclas branded whisky to contact us.
“It is a criminal offence to buy stolen goods.”
At the time of the break-in, police said they believed the culprits had travelled to the area specifically and asked hoteliers and B&B owners for information.
They also appealed to anyone who had seen vehicles acting suspiciously on the A95 Aberlour to Aviemore road between 2am and 3am on May 15 to come forward.
Glenfarclas is one of the last remaining family-owned and managed distilleries in Scotland, belonging to the Grant family since 1865.
Anyone with any information about the break-in should contact police on 101, quoting incident 1328 of Sunday 15 May, 2022.
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