$100,000 Worth of iPhone 5s Stolen in Japan

It would be quite an understatement to say people were excited for the recent iPhone 5 launch. With record breaking sales and lines starting eight days before release, Apple's latest phone is a hot commodity.

So hot, in fact, that several thieves in Japan have stolen over $100,000 worth of devices just hours before the product released to the public. According to a report from the Wall Street Journal, approximately two hundred iPhone 5 devices were taken from retail stores in Osaka, Japan.

Three phone stores were hit in the early hours last Friday, with seventy-five iPhone 5s taken from two KDDI "au" brand retail stores and 116 devices stolen from a Softbank store.

Surprisingly, the robberies were anything but amateur, with the Softbank thieves stealing all 116 devices in less than four minutes. According to the report, the thieves broke into a locked back room at 4:24 a.m. and were out of the store by 4:28 a.m.

Japan wasn't the only place to fall victim to iPhone 5 burglaries. Approximately 250 handsets were also taken from an O2 store in London. All robberies are still under investigation, but it's unclear how or if pre-order customers are being compensated for the trouble.

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