Wii U heist successfully snaffles 7,000 consoles

Thieves have made off with $2 million worth of Wii U consoles after a raid on a warehouse.

ABC News reports two diesel trucks rolled into a Nintendo distribution centre at SeaTac’s Seattle Air Cargo at about 9:00PM on a Saturday evening.

The thieves broke into the warehouse and used forklifts to grab about 7,000 consoles - $2 million worth - and loaded them onto two 53-foot semi-trailers and a third, smaller truck. They then legged it in the three stolen vehicles.

Staff turned up Sunday morning to find empty Nintendo pallets strewn about.

Kotaku confirmed with the King County Sheriff's Office that the stolen devices were in fact Wii U's, after some mainstream media confusion.

The Sherriff's Office has requested consumers call 206-296-3311 to report any shady-seeming Wii U offers spotted on eBay or elsewhere. The stolen consoles may be traceable via serial number, as with a stolen shipment of Assassin's Creed 3 in the Benelux last month, but Nintendo didn't respond to Kotaku's request for information.