Chinese customs seize over 3,000 undeclared Labubu toys
(ECNS) -- Chinese customs officers on Saturday confiscated more than 3,000 Labubu toys allegedly smuggled into the country by 10 tourists, authorities said.
According to the General Administration of Customs (GAC), officers at Kunming Changshui International Airport found 427 boxes of Pop Mart toys among the luggage of 10 passengers, totaling 3,086 dolls.
The passengers admitted to carrying the toys for commercial resale. The GAC has already filed a case for investigation, it said.
Pop Mart, a Beijing-based toy brand, has taken the global market by storm, with its limited-edition figurines becoming hot commodities both at home and abroad. Labubu dolls, often sold in blind boxes and produced in limited runs, are popular among collectors and speculators in the booming designer toy market. The cases reported by Chinese customs highlight the booming secondary market.
In the past few months, officials have reported multiple interceptions of undeclared Pop Mart toys, including popular Labubu and Molly figurines, carried by passengers seeking profit through resale.
The Gongbei Customs in Guangdong Province uncovered 20,599 suspected counterfeit products on June 12, including blind-box toys and plush figures, during three separate inspections of outbound transshipment lorries at the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge Customs checkpoint, according to the GAC on Wednesday.
(By Zhang Dongfang)