Detectives at 36 Rue du Bastion have picked up the trail of a global gang of Lego looters. Photo / 123RF
It could be the scenario of a new Lego Movie or an episode of The Pink Panther.
A gang of Polish thieves check into a Paris hotel. In the dead of night, they carry out a series of raids on local toy stores, stealing hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of Lego before driving back to Poland to sell their haul online.
It may seem far-fetched, but these heists actually took place, according to French investigators. Detectives at 36 Rue du Bastion – the Parisian equivalent of New Scotland Yard – have picked up the trail of an international gang of Lego looters. Three Poles arrested in the capital last year have since confessed to being members of the gang.
Forget the audacious multi-million-pound jewellery heists Paris and the French Riviera have become known for. Forget the targeting of celebrities, such as reality star Kim Kardashian – robbed in her Paris hotel at gunpoint in 2016 – and racing driver Jenson Button, reportedly gassed and robbed at a Saint-Tropez villa. Toy stores now offer easy pickings for crime gangs, with lower risks and high rewards.
"Lego thefts are growing and the heists in Paris were the work of organised crime," says one investigator, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're building a case against the gang and we're warning parents to be aware when buying Lego sets online that they could be stolen."
The Paris raids took place last June. A month later, highly organised thieves stole £441,000 ($867,965) worth of Lego from a charity warehouse in Huddersfield.
"We also know of similar thefts in the United States and Australia," the French detective admits. "We don't know if all these heists are linked, but they appear to be part of a growing criminal trend."
Adult collectors are investing in Lego in the same way people play the stock market or invest in wine to resell it years later. Sets of the multi-coloured toy bricks can rocket in value soon after they go out of production, which happens frequently because Lego constantly refreshes its themed lines, introducing new ones, from Harry Potter to Star Wars, several times a year.
Lego's more expensive sets are aimed at adults. A Lamborghini Sián FKP 37, for example, contains 3,696 pieces, is too complicated for young children to assemble… and costs £349.99 ($688).
With serious money to be made, investors buy Lego's limited edition adult sets, leave them untouched in their boxes and resell them a few years later, sometimes at a profit of thousands of pounds.
Lego's sales surged during the pandemic, with worldwide revenue almost topping £5billion last year, a 14 per cent increase.
Kevin Gascogne, head of the Fairy Bricks charity, whose Huddersfield warehouse was robbed last July, said the theft left him in tears. "Those Lego sets were for children in hospital, and to see organised crime targeting them during the pandemic was devastating," says Gascogne, 44.
"The robbers were obviously professionals, not just a gang of kids. They cut a hole in the wall and CCTV footage showed them carting the loot away in 7.5-ton trucks. They raided the warehouse on two successive nights."
Natasia Middleton, a West Yorkshire police communications officer, said two people had been arrested in connection with the heist, but were not charged because of insufficient evidence. "We do not believe that it was a Polish-based gang," she added. The investigation was closed in December.
Gerben van IJken, a Lego specialist who advises Catawiki, an online auction platform for collectibles, nearly a fifth of whose customers are British, says that investors started taking an interest in Lego around 2005.
"A lot of people see it as an easy investment. You don't need knowledge of the market as you do with shares. You just go into a toy store, buy a big Lego set and put it away. It's better than having money in the bank."
But it is also a prime target for thieves because it is small, light and hard to trace, because the bricks don't have serial numbers.
Rare Lego sets such as the Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon have fetched up to £11,000 ($21,645). A Cafe Corner set, released in 2007 at a retail price of £88 ($173), is now worth more than £2,000 ($3935) if it is in a sealed box.
Catawiki tries to verify the provenance of the goods it sells, but van IJken acknowledges it is difficult. "But if I see an uptick in sets being put on the market from Poland, for example, that will set alarm bells ringing," he adds.
As well as raids on shops, adult enthusiasts sometimes fall prey to burglars who make off with their valuable collections. One of them was Louis, a 22-year-old Frenchman. His YouTube videos of him building Lego Star Wars models, which he narrates in English, using his online name of Republicattak, have been viewed by millions.
After a break-in, many of his sets, worth more than £15,000 ($29,516), were stolen.
The thieves left other valuables and only made off with Lego.
"Theft is a growing problem for Lego collectors," says Louis, who declined to give his surname. "After I was robbed, many Lego fans and a lot of my friends insured their collections."
Cathy Herron, editor of the UK magazine Collectors' Gazette, says that Lego collectors are typically men aged between 30 and 50. "They remember playing with Lego as children and at the end of the month they've got money left over to spend on something quite frivolous. And now Lego's becoming more known as making money, it may not seem so frivolous."
But Michael Lecount, a Sheffield toy shop owner, sounds a note of warning.
"Interest has been sparked by the idea that Lego is worth more than gold, which has been promoted by some media," he says. "This has led people to believe that if they buy a Lego set and stick it in the attic, it's going to be worth a lot more in a few years. That's true of some sets, but not all. Like other commodities, second-hand Lego prices can go down as well as up."
Another problem for parents and collectors is Chinese-made counterfeit Lego. "It's almost impossible to distinguish from the real thing," van IJken admits. In 2019, Chinese police raided a warehouse in the southern city of Shenzhen and arrested four people accused of manufacturing and selling more than £23 million ($45 million) worth of fake Lego.
For its part, the Lego group, based in Denmark, has not specified what steps it is taking to counter the raids, nor its view on the existence of an international gang of Lego thieves. Its press office says: "We advise people to contact local law enforcement agencies if they suspect they have been offered or purchased stolen products."
In other words, caveat emptor, parents.
Lego Ultimate Collector's Series Millennium Falcon
Highest known sale price: $15,000 USD
Originally priced at about £325 ($639) on release in 2007, these sets have routinely sold online for between £2,500 ($4919) and £4,200 ($8264)
Lego Taj Mahal, First Edition
Highest sale price: £2,790 ($5849)
Since Lego re-released the Taj Mahal a few years ago as part of a different collection, prices fell to around £325 ($639)
Lego King's Castle
Highest price: £1,880 ($3699)
Note that a sealed Lego set in the box is worth up to ten times as much as an opened one.
Lego Ultimate Collector's Series Imperial Star Destroyer
Highest price: about £1,600 ($3148)
Not rare, but Lego Star Wars sets fetch high prices because of enormous demand from adult fans.
Lego Market Street
Average price: £1,562 ($3073)
An intricate set with spiral staircases, awnings and removable balconies, part of the sought-after "modular" collection.