Australian Lego Bandits are robbing stores of valuable sets

Thieves are hitting a Lego store in Australia, raiding it of what could be thousands of dollars of merchandise on the black market.

There could be (but probably isn’t) a major international Lego crime syndicate hitting shops in Australia. A Young toy store — which is a small town in New South Wales — has twice been hit by criminals the owners believe are targeting the store as a black market resource.

Twice, including a robbery on Easter morning, this toy store has been broken into and looted of valuable Lego sets ranging from Star Wars to Batman.

According to the Daily Adviser, the Lego bandits are well organized and knew exactly what places in the store to hit:

“They just took the large boxes of Lego, the Star Wars, Creations, City and Batman, it’s like they already knew what they wanted and they have a ready-made market to sell to,” Mr Penson said.

It’s not the Lufthansa Heist, but it’s also not small time crime. There’s a serious resale market for Lego items out there and these guys apparently are the pipeline.

Who’s to say this isn’t the tip of the iceberg of some international Lego crime ring? That’s an aggressive implication but the idea that this is just petty crime is also a bit irresponsible being that Lego is a big enough deal to warrant more attention in this investigation.

Of course this could just be one crime spree wholly unconnected to any other greater Lego crime syndicates operating throughout the world. But it makes you think — especially on a slow Friday.

This is a serious matter though, and one not exclusive to this small toy store. Lego sets for Star Wars and Batman are insanely collectable with some going for a market price of well over $1,000. It’s not a crime wave that will capture international attention, but it’s still one that warrants local investigation for the sake of this toy store not bleeding valuable assets while they’re not looking.