Zeenews Sports Bureau
Paris: French Open champion Rafael Nadal’s stolen watch worth 300,000-euro (USD 375,000) was recovered at the hotel where he stayed during the French Open and a hotel employee who stole it was arrested, a police source said on Wednesday.
The thief, a hotel barman was tracked down by the police on Tuesday after tracing his hotel access badge, which was used to get into the suite in which Nadal stayed with his parents during the championship.
He confessed that he entered Nadal`s suite and took the luxury watch, and brought the police to the spot where he had hidden it along a railway track near his home in the Essonne area to the south of Paris, the source said.
Speaking at a tournament in Halle, Germany, Nadal praised police for cracking the case and said that he was very happy with the work of the French police. He did not blame the hotel for the loss and said that he would continue to stay there during his visits to Paris.
French media reported that luxury watchmaker Richard Mille had lent Nadal the watch for the French Open.
First Published: Wednesday, June 13, 2012, 21:49