Imagine going to a restaurant and being denied a table because the restaurant doesn’t have enough chairs. Well, at some restaurants in Spain, this exact thing happened. Over the span of two months, a group of thieves stole over 1,100 chairs from a multitude of local Spanish cafes, bars and restaurants.

These seats were stolen from 18 carefully chosen locations that had outdoor seating in Madrid and Talavera de la Renia, a small city to the southwest of the capitol. In Europe, it is very common for restaurants to leave plastic tables and chairs outside overnight by chaining them down to the ground to ensure they don’t get stolen. However, even with these precautions, the group of thieves were able to rob countless restaurants of their seating.

During the months of August and September, the thieves stole hundreds of chairs amounting to an astounding 60,000 euros, or $69,000.

However, this criminal group didn’t keep a single chair for themselves, but rather sold them to buyers around the world. Reports have shown that these chairs ended up in areas from Morocco all the way to Romania. This turned what at first seemed to be a harmless prank into a criminal empire.

Over the course of the past months, Spanish police conducted a hunt to find the criminal organization responsible for these actions, and just recently, they were found. In relation to the crime, seven people, six men and one woman, were arrested. These criminals now face charges of theft as well as being involved in a criminal organization. 

While this may seem like an insignificant yet humorous theft, the consequences of it were severe for the owners of the affected restaurants. In lieu of the robbery, Spanish police have released multiple statements, reminding local bars and cafes to take precautions to protect their outdoor seating.