The Venezuelan government has seized nearly 4 million toys from a private company in order to hand them out to poor children this holiday season.
The country’s fair pricing authority seized the toys from three warehouses run by Venezuela’s largest toy distributor, Kreisel, Friday, the Associated Press reports.
Authorities detained two company executives on suspicion of promoting price speculation.
Agency director William Contreras said that Kreisel under-reported its inventory so they could sell toys at higher prices.
Kreisel has only responded to tweets of support, and has not commented on the allegations.
Contreras said the toy seizure would teach companies “that you can’t play with the rights of Venezuelans.”
Local supply committees will be in charge of giving out toys to children “fairly,” authorities said.
The Venezuelan government is not only seizing toys from private companies, but they’re also forcing more than 200 stores in Caracas to hold Christmas sales.
Venezuela’s economy has neared economic collapse and has seen a shortage of goods such as food and medicine.
Venezuela, in response to the economic conditions, said it would start issuing bills in higher denominations.
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