Rs 1.4 crore Lego heist in Australia: Why thieves keep stealing these toys

A man in Australia has been arrested for stealing Lego sets worth $160,000 (Rs 1.4 crore).

Police over the weekend recovered an estimated 2,500 items from the 41-year-old in Adelaide. This included around 1,700 unopened Lego boxes. The suspect is said to have stolen the toys from several department stores in the city.

But what happened? Why do thieves keep stealing these toys?

Let’s take a closer look.

What happened?

Police found the boxes after raiding a home in Adelaide’s Royal Park on Saturday. The raid was part of Australia’s ongoing crackdown against retail theft in partnership with retailers — known as Operation Measure. The man, who has not been identified, has been charged with theft and unlawful possession.

Officers have made around 2,500 arrests since the launch of the operation in March 2022. Police say that arrests over the past few months have resulted in a sharp fall in retail theft. Retail theft fell by around six per cent in June alone.

It is said to be the largest haul Australian police have uncovered thus far. Police said the suspect was planning to sell the toys online. They said the toys filled three truckloads and that additional police personnel had to be called in to help take the items into custody.

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Police said they also found toys apart from Lego — including Pokémon, Barbie, Hello Kitty and Thomas the Tank Engine. “The size of the haul is significant and indicates the depth of the alleged offending,” John De Candia from South Australia Police said.

Police also urged customers not to buy these sorts of toys online. “This type of theft is not victimless,” De Candia added. “Those who purchase cheap goods from online sites are unwittingly facilitating this crime and we would urge them to consider this.”

The suspect will now be produced at the Adelaide Magistrates Court on 30 September.

A global trend

A similar theft was reported in Los Angeles last month, where criminals focused on Labubu dolls.

“There was a lot taken, maybe like around $30,000 or more of inventory,” Joanna Avendano, co-owner of One Stop Sales, was quoted as saying. “We worked so hard to get to this point, and for them to just come in and, like nothing, take it all away, it’s really bad.”

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Hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of Lego sets have been stolen in the United States this year alone. Thieves have hit locations in Florida, Philadelphia and Las Vegas.

Police in California in June recovered 2,800 Lego sets after busting a toy smuggling ring. This included Lego sets of the Millennium Falcon and R2-D2 from Star Wars, as well as sets from The Lord of the Rings and Back to the Future.

In April, four defendants were arrested after authorities discovered $300,000 in stolen Lego. In addition, over $100,000 worth of Lego was stolen from retailer Bricks & Minifigs in southern California. In March, a 32-year-old man was arrested for stealing $10,000 worth of Lego in Washington. Another California man was accused of stealing Lego items worth $25,000 that same month.

Why do thieves keep stealing these toys?

While Lego used to mainly cater to children, it has now also become a popular hobby for adults. The price of the sets — which can retail from a few hundred dollars to thousands of dollars depending on the set — makes them irresistible to thieves.

“Lego is unique. The brand is always refreshing their offerings, always on trend with tie-ins to pop culture and special edition sets,” said Read Hayes, a criminologist at the University of Florida and the director of the Loss Prevention Research Council, told CNN. “Demand is always there.”

Experts say Lego products are a popular target because they are difficult to track and easy to resell — particularly online. Those in pristine condition can fetch close to their original price. Even those that are not in top condition can fetch about half their original price. They suggest there is a thriving black market for rare Lego sets.

Casey Slaughter, from the Wichita, Kansas, police, is intimately familiar with these crimes.

“We see Lego toys as one of the more frequently stolen items in our area,” Slaughter added. “Any retailer selling the brand is susceptible to Lego theft, but we also have a couple of Lego-specific second-hand stores that have popped up as resellers. They’re being targeted.”

“They’re difficult to track where they were stolen from,” he added.