Massive Labubu heist! ₹26.23 lakh worth of viral toys stolen from California store

Mint

6 days ago

In a massive Labubu heist, thieves stole ₹ 26.23 lakh worth of viral toys from a store in California, Los Angeles. These toothy, fluffy, mischievous monster dolls and all their viral spinoffs are escalating into a potential crime wave.
According to The Guardian, the theft was 'pre-planned' and was carried out by a group of burglars. The store had just announced a restock in Labubus.
Joanna Avendano, co-owner of One Stop Sales, told local news that a lot of Labubu dolls were taken, estimating his loss at "maybe like around $30,000 or more of inventory".
'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,' she said.
According to the store's co-owner, the burglars targeted the Labubus specifically, bypassing other merchandise. She also alleged that the break-in was planned.
A suspicious truck was reportedly parked outside the store on Tuesday night, which Joanna Avendano said she suspects was the burglars monitoring the store's social media account.
It wasn't clear how many dolls were stolen.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff said an investigation into the burglary is underway, and shared that the van used for the crime was found abandoned shortly after.
'Several boxes of Labubu dolls were stolen, valued at approximately seven thousand dollars,' the sheriff's department said in a statement.
Labubu dolls are priced at a whopping $500 ( ₹ 43,730) each on its official website. However, their significant demand has incited resellers to hike prices by thousands of dollars each and the rise of a black market of fake Labubus.