Drink up! Police recover wine stolen in Thanksgiving Day heist

SEATTLE -- Detectives said they recovered a large portion of the 200 cases of wine stolen from a South Seattle business last month.

Police discovered the wine Tuesday while serving a search warrant at a building less than a mile away from Esquin Wine Merchants. Thieves targeted the business on Thanksgiving Day and stole $648,000 worth of wine, according to the Seattle Police Department. Police said two suspects spray-painted security cameras before spending more than 13 hours carting off the wine.

When the suspects finished carting the wine to a car, they allegedly cut two gas lines in the shop’s ceiling and tried to light the storage unit and corresponding shop ablaze. However, the gas failed to ignite and a building manager called 911 when he smelled gas the next day. Firefighters called to the scene shut off the gas and recognized the lockers had been burglarized, police said.

Wine shop staff used a security camera that was not sprayed to identify the suspects as two who had previously rented a storage locker at the address. The wine crooks had previously left their home address while renting a storage locker.

Police have arrested two suspects in the case and are still investigating to determine if others were involved.