Thieves have made off with $15,000 worth of Lego from a toy store in two robberies police say have the hallmarks of an organised syndicate.

Toyworld in Seymour, north of Melbourne, was targeted on May 24th and again on Sunday, with thieves removing and stealing the store’s glass sliding-door and its CCTV hard drives on both raids.

"There's a lot of other things they could probably steal that would be worth a lot more … but they're only targeting Lego," the store's owner, Werner Baumann, told 3AW radio.

The haul, mostly Lego Technic and Lego City brands, would have required at least two or three people and “a van of some sort”, he said.

Senior Detective Ian Porter of Victoria Police said the sophisticated nature of the robbery suggested the work of "an organised syndicate".

“We believe they had some sort of glazing experience and possibly possessed tools to remove the glass without breaking it,” he said.

Baumann said a number of small toy shops in the area had been targeted by thieves bent on pilfering the classic toy bricks, which in the past twelve months had become “one of the hottest toy properties in Australia”.

A 3D animated feature released this year, the Lego Movie, has grossed more than $400 million worldwide at the box office.

Police said the Lego was likely to be sold online or at a market, and appealed to the public to be vigilant.

Guardian