Melbourne CIU are investigating a burglary at a Melbourne book store last week. Probably not the nimblest burglar we’ve seen. Read more ► https://t.co/S7wDDImCTD pic.twitter.com/jUzZ6Rn6ys

If you thought the burglar who got himself stuck in a bin cupboard last week was an amateur, meet this week’s contender.

Melbourne Crime Investigation Unit detectives are investigating a burglary at a Melbourne bookstore that has to be seen to be believed.

The break-in happened at a shopping center on Collins St., in the Melbourne CBD, around midnight last Thursday. Police have this morning released the security tape.

It shows a man dressed in a grey hoodie and black tracksuit pants trying desperately to make his way into the complex when his leg and backpack both become wedged between a pair of glass sliding doors.

He pulls and he pulls before stopping, reassessing the situation, and freeing his arms from the bag before yanking it out.

Once inside the center, he falls over on the escalator before climbing on a ledge to access stores on the lower level. He picks out the bookstore and smashes through a security door to gain entry before setting his sights on a safe. He lifts it in his arms before leaving the shop.

Police say additional security footage shows the man stumbling under the weight of the safe as he walks out of the center and into a rear laneway.

Last week, a would-be-thief found himself locked in a wheelie bin cupboard at a home in Port Melbourne after scurrying around the yard trying to evade the homeowner.

David Mann forced the offender, who was just 18 years old, into the cupboard and locked it using the handlebar of a child’s scooter. He waited for police to arrive and arrest the man. It’s understood he had targeted a number of properties in the area in the hours before he was arrested.