Masked burglars steal thousands worth of Scottish whisky

Ballindalloch, UK - Masked raiders took only four minutes to force their way into a distillery in Scotland and make off with more than $183,000 worth of whisky.

"Glenfarclas Distillery produces an award winning range of Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky," according to its Twitter account.
"Glenfarclas Distillery produces an award winning range of Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky," according to its Twitter account.  © Twitter/@glenfarclas

Burglars drilled through a lock at the Glenfarclas Distillery's visitor center in the early hours of Sunday, smashed open a cabinet, and made off with bottles of valuable Speyside whisky in what appears to be a targeted raid.

Callum Fraser, production manager at the distillery in Ballindalloch, urged anyone with information about the crime or CCTV in the area to contact police.

He said: "Somebody gained entry through the door by drilling the lock. They've obviously been to case the place out because they knew exactly what cabinet they were going for. They took our family cask range from 1954 to 1975 - there's a bottle from every year there - and a bottle of 60-year-old and then went back out of the door."

Footage from the site has captured the white-masked group going through the side door at about 2:45 AM, getting what they wanted, and then leaving with the six-figure haul of bottles about four minutes later.

"The fact somebody has been in our place, it's not a nice feeling," Fraiser said. "Somebody has broken in, they felt that's what they should be doing, and it's horrendously wrong. It makes staff feel uncomfortable."

He added that workers at the family-owned distillery are well known as being friendly and approachable: "It makes us all feel slightly uncomfortable and angry, to be honest."

Glenfarclas is one of only a few remaining independent distilleries and was founded in 1836.
Glenfarclas is one of only a few remaining independent distilleries and was founded in 1836.  © Twitter/@glenfarclas

The heist is still being investigated.

Cover photo: Twitter/@MarkAGKent

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