Sept. 2 (UPI) — Australian police said Tuesday that a 41-year-old man has been arrested for stealing more than $160,000 worth of Lego, the largest single seizure of stolen goods by the Oceanic country’s retail theft task force.
The suspect, who was not identified, was arrested following a search of an address in Royal Park, a western suburb of Adelaide, that uncovered around 2,500 stolen items, including 1,700 unopened Lego sets.
“The size of the haul is significant and indicates the depth of the alleged offending,” Acting Assistant Commissioner John De Candia of the Metropolitan Operations Service with South Australia Police said in a statement.
“This type of theft is not victimless. Those who purchase cheap goods from online sites are unwittingly facilitating this crime and we would urge them to consider this.”
The arrest was conducted as part of Operation Measure, which was launched in March 2022 to address shop theft and recidivist offenders.
According to South Australia Police, the task force has linked nearly 6,000 retail thefts to persons of interest, including 2,425 arrests.
The state has experienced eight successive declines in reported shoplifting, which the police department attributes to the operation.
“Operation Measure will continue to target recidivist offenders we believe are responsible for the majority of the offending of this nature,” De Candia said.