Alcoholic, colorful and cute – Jelikats have become the latest collectional to go viral with their popularity to rival Beni baby craze of the 90s.
The prince and princess of Wales was also gifted in two luxuries of toy during a Royal Garden Party. Buckingham Palace Last month, William said: “These are like gold dust, my children go crazy for these things.”
But the fame and expensive value tag of toys means that they have also become a goal for thieves, including organized criminal gangs.
Independent garden centers and book shops are running up and down Retailers Thousands of pounds out of pockets.
Stolen items, traders have told IndependentEnd on dedicated Facebook Pages for buying and selling toys, as well as listing on online marketplace Ebay And vinned.
Prices range from £ 12 to £ 200 for a huge toy.
Just last week, Dorset police A woman issued an appeal after entering the book shop Christchurch Twice, about £ 250 jelikat steals toys.
On Friday, a 38 -year -old woman was arrested by the West Mercia police, when Jelikat’s toys were stolen on three incidents at St. Peter’s Garden Center and Eveshum Country Park, both in both Norton, Vosterarsirshire.
And in February, A woman accepted Stealing toys of about £ 3,000 from three separate garden centers in Norfolk. In Safolk, 35 -year -old Ruby Smith of the eye was sentenced to a 26 -week jail sentence suspended for 24 months.
In March, The Gorge Bayer Company faced an overnight raid at its store at the cake of the Summerset, when around 300 toys were reportedly stolen. A person has been arrested by the police while interrogation is on.
And last year at Bridport in Dorset, Charlie Groves, owner of Groves Nursery, was spotted on CCTV A woman is pushing A child in a pram allegedly stealing eight jelikats of more than £ 300 value.
In the 30s, a woman has been accused of shopkeeping regarding the incident. She is scheduled to appear in Newton Abbott Magistrate Court for a petition on 14 August.
Mr. Groves said: “Jelikat’s toys are collectable, and they appear to bend good criminals just after another demand, while independent retail sellers lose themselves. There is a clear cost for all this.
“We think toys are stolen and then sold online, it is very difficult to stop, but we have tried to increase our security in the store.”
The success story behind the Jelikat Toy began in 1999 when Brothers Tom and Will Gatcare founded the brand and displayed its products at a London trade show, which attracted the attention of key retailers such as John Lewis and Selfies.
Today, the company has around 1,200 stockists in the UK, although recently the number has decreased for “providing the best shopping experience for customers”.
Katy Born, The National Lead on Retail Crime for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) told Independent She was also aware of the “high number of cases” associated with jelikats.
She is encouraging targeted shops like Garden Center to provide details on the information-sharing scheme used by police forces called Project Pegasas, which they launched in 2023.
He said: “Jelikat’s toys are so fibrous, so later and valuable – we are watching some people stealing in bulk.
“They are very good because people want to buy them for their children. It is a mixture of stealing people. We have seen organized criminal gangs, but you also get opportunists. Shops need to work with police to stop the thieves.”
In April, data released by National statistics office (ONS) showed that the number of shopkeepers had reached a record high. A total of 516,971 offenses were logged in by forces in 2024, in 2023 to 20 percent to 20 percent.
About a quarter of the people have seen shoplifting in a shop in the last 12 months. British Retail Consortium, Which is estimated Crime costs retailers in UK £ 2.2BN last year.
The body said that it was suspected that jelikat toys were being stolen to relate online due to their high value.
Generally speaking about retail crime, Graham Vyan, Assistant Director of Business and Regulation, said Independent: “While the causes are manifold, increase in organized crime is a significant concern, in which gangs hit one stores after another.
“Sadly, such theft is not a aggrieved crime; it increases costs for honest shopkeepers and damages customer experience.”
