Seven held after investigation into Disney store thefts
Shanghai police have arrested seven suspects for allegedly stealing toys worth over 500,000 yuan from the World of Disney Store in Disneytown in the Pudong New Area, according to Shanghai TV.
Police officers at the Shanghai International Tourism Resort received a report saying the store had caught two thieves. Police found no stolen goods on them but security guards said they had witnessed shoplifting.
When surveillance videos were checked, officers said they found members of a gang stealing items and transferring them to accomplices. The accomplices then took the toys to remote backstreets, where other accomplices took them.
A screen shot of a surveillance video said to show two suspects stealing toys from the World of Disney Store.
Two additional suspects were identified as fences, purchasing the stolen merchandise and reselling at discounted prices.
By March 31, all the seven suspects had been detained.
An investigation is said to have found that the gang had been buying goods from the Disney store and reselling them at a profit. As this is banned by the resort, they were blacklisted. That's when the thefts started, police said, with sometimes more than 10 times a day being taken.
Police said the gang had stolen toys worth over 500,000 yuan in the two weeks before their detention.
Police with a large number of toys said to have been stolen from the World of Disney Store.
