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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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MAP: Teams of Haagen-Dazs Shoplifters Hit Manhattan Stores

By Maya Rajamani | February 11, 2016 4:33pm

MIDTOWN — Teams of thieves that target high-end ice cream — particularly Häagen-Dazs — have hit 10 stores over the past four months, DNAinfo has found.

On Saturday, shoplifters stole hundreds of cartons of Häagen-Dazs worth more than $1,000 from a pair of Midtown Duane Reade stores within minutes of each other, police said.

Two suspects first went into the Duane Reade at 1370 Sixth Ave., between West 55th and 56th streets, around 10:45 a.m., grabbed 66 containers of Häagen-Dazs valued at $375.54 from a refrigerated display case and walked out of the store, police said.

About five minutes later, around 10:51 a.m., two suspects went into the Duane Reade at 100 W. 57th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, took 224 Häagen-Dazs containers worth $712.32 from a display case and fled the store, police said.

Police could not say whether the same two suspects struck both stores. In the fall, two other Duane Reades in Manhattan — one in TriBeCa and one in Gramercy — were hit by thieves who also swiped Häagen-Dazs.

And this week, police arrested a modern-day Fagin who had been working with a crew of younger men to steal thousands of dollars worth of ice cream.

A manager at the Midtown Sixth Avenue Duane Reade said he heard from another employee that the thieves went to the ice cream cooler and started loading up their backpacks.

“They were big, large book bags, almost like camping book bags, and they just filled [them] up,” he said.

A manager at the 57th Street Duane Reade declined to comment on Tuesday.