Let’s hope these crooks are caught by the long arm of the claw!
Someone, somehow crawled off yesterday with a 7-foot, 100-plus-pound lobster statue from in front of a Hamptons restaurant.
Kobe, as the huge crustacean is known, is the beloved mascot at Amagansett’s Banzai Burger, which serves beef patties, shark and sushi — but no lobster.
The brazen theft has baffled the boiling-mad owners of the new eatery.
“This had to be a real operation, because they needed a truck and a couple of strong hands,” said manager Steve Kasuba. “One person couldn’t pick it up; it was heavy.”
Kobe held a sign that read, “Eat Beef,” outside the joint by the Montauk Highway.
“So Kobe the lobster was saying, ‘Don’t eat my kind; eat beef,’ ” explained co-owner Alex Duff. “He was a lobster mascot for a burger restaurant.”
They’re offering a $1,000 reward in booze and food to anyone providing information that cracks the case.
“They can eat free for the rest of the summer!” Kasuba said, urging on any local sleuths.
They have not reported the kidnapping to police.
“Please return Kobe the Lobster,” Duff appealed to the thieves. “Please drop him off in the parking lot; that would be great.”
Kobe was last seen on Monday. The new owners inherited the statue; it had belonged to the restaurant’s previous owner.
“It’s kind of a bummer, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” Duff said. “We became kind of attached to him.”
Duff is also not ruling out that the theft is just a college prank.
At one point, the owners considered chaining the lobster up for safety, but they never got around to it.
Kobe was an instant hit with diners and a photo destination in the area.