Government authorities detained two executives from Kreisel, the country’s largest toy distributor, on suspicion of hoarding and price gouging

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The Venezuelan government has seized nearly 4m toys from a private company and says it will hand them out as Christmas gifts for poor children.

The country’s fair pricing authority seized the toys on Friday from three warehouses run by Kreisel, Venezuela’s largest toy distributor. Two company executives were detained on suspicion of promoting price speculation.

Agency director William Contreras alleged that Kreisel under-reported its inventory in order to sell some toys at higher prices.

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Contreras said the seizure would teach companies “that you can’t play with the rights of Venezuelans”.

Kreisel has not commented officially beyond responding to Twitter messages of support.

Authorities said local supply committees would be in charge of distributing the toys “fairly”.

Venezuela has been racked by a deep economic crisis, accompanied by shortages of goods ranging from food staples to medicine.

In recent days, President Nicolás Maduro ordered stores to lower their prices between 30% and 50%.