Honolulu police are seeking two men and a woman in connection with the theft of more than $1 million worth of Prada retail merchandise from a Kaka'ako warehouse sometime around Christmas.

The theft, discovered by store employees preparing to move merchandise Dec. 26, included wallets, ready to wear clothes, bags and other items, police said.

Witnesses in the vicinity of the Prada warehouse, located in the 400 block of Ko'ula Street, reported seeing two men and a woman driving an early model white Ford van in the area around the time of the burglary.

The van was seen parked in front of the warehouse while the suspects loitered, police said.

None of the merchandise stolen in the burglary has been recovered, police said, but investigators are checking with local shipping companies to see if anyone has tried to move a large quantity of Prada goods, police said. A Prada representative in New York declined comment early yesterday.

On Saturday officers searched the area around an auto dealership in Waipahu after they received a tip that Prada merchandise was found lying around. Police did not recover any Prada products but found several bundles of plastic Prada shopping bags, police said.

Police did not say if the two men and woman wanted for questioning were connected with the auto business.

The woman was described as being in her 30s, with a thin build, about 5 feet 7 inches and 120 pounds. She has a dark complexion and black hair, police said. One of the two men she was seen with was described as being in his 50s, with a medium build, about 5 feet 7 and 190 pounds.

A description of the second man was not released. The trio is not considered armed or dangerous because witnesses did not report seeing any weapons.

"We're looking to see if anybody can identify these guys," said HPD Sgt. Kim Buffett.

The thieves disabled the building's alarm system by cutting the cables and misdirecting the surveillance cameras, police said.

They pried open the front door, pulled up a security screen, backed a large vehicle into a loading bay and carried out the merchandise.

The items taken have a retail value of $1 million and wholesale value of about $650,000.

The Prada break-in is one of 19 recent burglaries that police believe are part of a series.

In all but two of the burglaries, the store or business did not have a backup alarm, although it is impossible to tell whether a store has a backup system without knowledge of the store setup.

In each case, the businesses' alarm systems were neutralized, most often by cutting wires, and police are reviewing who set up the systems in the burglarized stores and how the work was done.

The alarm systems were provided by a number of different companies.

Reach Peter Boylan at pboylan@honoluluadvertiser.com.