Gang accused of 'pumping knockout gas into Nick Grimshaw's Ibiza villa to sedate him and his mother' arrested
2 September 2024, 12:30 | Updated: 2 September 2024, 12:35
A gang accused of pumping knockout gas into Nick Grimshaw's Ibiza holiday home where he was staying with his mother have been arrested.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Two men and one woman have been arrested by Spanish authorities over at least 22 burglaries, including one rented by the radio DJ and his mother, Eileen, 81, along with other family members.
The total value of stolen items from all properties is believed to be more than half a million euros.
Grimshaw and his family were on the Spanish island for his 40th birthday.
Read more: Pictured: British student, 19, who died after falling from Ibiza hotel balcony
Read more: Katy Perry faces investigation over music video filmed on protected sand dunes in Spain
The gang are said to have pumped the sedative gas into the holiday home and waited for them to fall asleep, before breaking in.
They are unlikely to have known who Grimshaw is, but would have understood that the home was used by wealthy holidaymakers.
An insider said Grimshaw was left shaken by the incident.
"Sadly it's a case of the wrong place at the wrong time but it's scary to say the least," they told the Sun.
"Nick was obviously upset but thought best to keep things off social media."
The Spanish police said the burglars would go into the homes while the people inside were sleeping. The robbers would always wear black and cover their faces.
Authorities said that that many victims had reported drowsiness when they woke up, which the authorities believe may have been from a knockout gas.
Police said a property had been searched this week as part of the investigation into the string of robberies, and expensive items including watches, branded bags, jewellery and sunglasses were found at the house.
This is not the first time that reports of celebrity sedative gassings have appeared.
Formula 1 driver Jenson Button and his wife Jessica were said to have been subject to such an attack in their villa in Saint-Tropez in the south of France in 2015.
Button's spokesperson said at the time: "Jenson, Jessica and friends were on holiday in a rented villa in St Tropez when on Monday evening two men broke into the property whilst they all slept and stole a number of items of jewellery including, most upsettingly, Jessica’s engagement ring.
"The police have indicated that this has become a growing problem in the region, with perpetrators going so far as to gas their proposed victims through the air-conditioning units before breaking in."
But local police and a prominent British anaesthetist both cast doubt on the idea that gas had been used.
Dr Liam Brennan, who was then the vice-president of the Royal College of Anaesthetists, said: "We find it very difficult to understand how anaesthetic agents could be delivered in the concentrations required to produce that sort of effect."
