Copenhagen: Stolen vodka bottle found empty

A bottle of vodka, claimed to be the "world's most expensive," was found intact in Copenhagen after it was stolen from a bar earlier this week, Danish police said.

Made from three kilograms (6.6 pounds) of white and yellow gold, three kilograms of silver and crowned with a diamond-encrusted replica of the Russian Imperial Eagle on its cap, it is believed to be worth $1.3 million (€1.07 million).

Police in Copenhagen said the rare bottle was found at a construction site and thanked "a member of the public" for reporting the missing bottle, which is now being analyzed. The bottle appeared to have suffered little damage, but it was drained of its Russo-Baltique vodka.

"I don't know what happened with the vodka, but the bottle was empty," Riad Tooba, spokesman for the Copenhagen police, told news agency AFP.

Read more: Russia to raise vodka prices to fight excessive drinking

'Vodka god saved us'

The Danish vodka collector and the owner of Cafe 33 where the bottle was stolen said he was relieved the expensive bottle had been safely recovered.

"I feel fantastic. The vodka god saved us," bar owner Brian Ingberg told the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet. Ingberg said earlier that he had not insured the bottle.

He told the tabloid he believed the thieves left the bottle behind when they realized how difficult it would be to sell.

The bottle, which made an appearance in the political TV drama "House of Cards," was on loan from a Russian businessman.

CCTV footage from the bar showed a masked man grabbing the bottle from the bar and fleeing the scene early on Tuesday morning.

"We still have the same vodka that was in the bottle before, so we we'll just fill it again," Ingberg said.

rs/es  (AFP, dpa)