The country's fair pricing authority seized the toys from three warehouses run by Kreisel, Venezuela's largest toy distributor, on Friday. Two company executives were detained on suspicion of promoting price speculation.

Agency director William Contreras alleged that Kreisel underreported its inventory in order to sell some toys at higher prices. Kreisel has not commented officially beyond responding to Twitter messages of support.

Contreras said the seizure would teach companies "that you can't play with the rights of Venezuelans."

Authorities said local supply committees will be in charge of distributing the toys "fairly" to children.