Wine store owner says a thief drilled a hole in his roof, descended by rope, and stole bottles worth $600,000. 'It was like something out of Ocean's Eleven,' the store manager said.

• A thief broke into a wine store in Los Angeles by drilling a hole in the roof, the store owner said.
• They then used rope to descend into the wine cellar, making off with expensive bottles, per reports.

Police in California are investigating a theft at a luxury wine store which the store said involved a burglar drilling a hole in the roof, descending into the cellar using rope, and making off with expensive bottles of wine and liquor.

Surveillance footage from Lincoln Fine Wines, which is located in Los Angeles' Venice neighborhood, captures the start of the break-in that began at around midnight last Friday, CNN reported.

Footage shared by the wine store on Instagram shows a masked individual wearing a black hoodie, a red baseball cap, and red gloves climbing on storage containers to get access to the roof.

The person then cut through the ceiling into the wine cellar, leaving behind a five-by-three-foot hole, before lowering themselves into the cellar, owner Nazmul Haque told the Los Angeles Times.

The burglary lasted approximately four hours, with the thief looting some of the most expensive bottles, while bypassing more accessible bottles like Dom Pérignon Champagne, according to the LA Times.

The thief tripped a sensor at about 4 a.m., alerting Haque, who said he turned up at the store 30 minutes later to see shattered glass, empty shelves, and some abandoned crates, the LA Times reported.

More than 600 bottles in total were stolen, Haque said, per ABC 7 News.

The owner told the LA Times that approximately 60% of his high-end stock was stolen, with the total loss amounting to about $600,000 worth of wine and liquor.

The store's manager, Nick Martinelle, told CNN that many of the bottles were "irreplaceable."

The theft was movie-like, the manager said, telling CNN: "It was like something out of 'Ocean's Eleven.' We just couldn't believe it."

Haque also expressed disbelief. "It is very hard for me to digest," he said, per CNN. "All my hard work snatched within a couple of hours."

The incident is being investigated by Los Angeles police, according to CNN.

Lincoln Fine Wines and the Los Angeles Police Department did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.