How to (Accidentally) Smuggle a Labubu
Officers from Thailand’s Consumer-Protection Police Bureau and TISI display more than 100 uncertified plush dolls seized during a Nonthaburi mall raid, 15 May 2024.
How do you know if you’re smuggling a Labubu into China?
In April and May 2025, Chinese customs announced they seized 318 Pop Mart blind boxes at Changsha airport and another 94 at Hefei—hundreds of units in the last few months. The catch: officials classify these units not as souvenirs but as smuggling because the toys were undeclared and far beyond “personal-use” limits.
A traveler rolled into Changsha with 50 Pop Mart figures—mostly the ¥1k Jon Burgerman collab—stuffed in their suitcase. Total haul: ≈ ¥50k (US $7k), a full 10× the ¥5k duty-free limit. They admitted it was for daigou resale, so customs sealed the lot and opened a file. Moral: declare it, or watch your Labubus get locked up.
⚖️ What the rules actually say — simplified
Declare anything above the “personal-use” limit
¥5,000 total (≈ US $700) — Mainland Chinese residents can bring in goods worth up to ¥5k duty-free. Go over that and you must file a customs form and pay import duty.
Skip declaration + sell for profit = smuggling
No fixed ¥ amount — If customs decides the haul looks commercial (say, dozens of the same toy), it’s smuggling even if the value is small. Penalty: confiscation plus a fine.
When it turns criminal
Evaded tax ≥ ¥50,000 (≈ US $7,000) — Once the import duty you dodged hits 50k yuan, the case upgrades to a criminal smuggling charge. Maximum sentence: up to life in prison.
How big is ¥50k in tax?
Toys are typically taxed at ~13%. Dodging ¥50,000 in tax implies roughly ¥385,000 (≈ US $54k) worth of undeclared goods.
🌏 When Labubu becomes “Lafufu”
In China, Labubus trigger tax seizures; in Thailand, the knock-off “Lafufu” plushies are sparking fraud and safety probes.
Lisa from BLACKPINK posted a photo cuddling a plush Labubu—and Thailand’s collectors went feral. Scammers pounced, flooding markets with counterfeit “Lafufu” dolls. That pushed Thailand’s Thai Industrial Standards Institute (TISI) to act.
Bangkok’s Sampheng market was found selling fake Labubu/Lafufu plushies that lacked required safety certification.
Importers & producers of uncertified plush versions now face up to 2 years in jail + ฿2 million fine.
Retail sellers risk up to 6 months in jail + ฿500k fine for each offense.
Different countries police Pop Mart for different reasons. China is currently hunting un-taxed imports, while Thailand chases counterfeit “Lafufu” plushies on product-safety grounds.
🩳 Bonus: The “budgie smuggler” caper
If you think stuffing blind boxes in a suitcase is daring, one Kuala Lumpur thief went a level deeper, literally.
A CCTV montage from Mid Valley Megamall shows the so-called “blind-box bandit” slipping Labubu boxes down his shorts on three separate visits and strolling out.
Pop Mart may worry about customs crackdowns in China, but elsewhere the battle is pure shop-theft—sometimes executed below the belt.
