A thief got away with rare Pokémon cards worth more than $170,000 after breaking into a US store last week.
The masked burglar was caught on CCTV at 1st Edition Collectibles in New Bedford, Massachusetts, running inside with a backpack after smashing the glass door.
Eight highly valuable first edition Pokémon cards were stolen, with store co-owner Filipe Andre telling CNN they were worth $US113,650 ($172,834) all up.
“We’d just like our stuff back. Truthfully, it’s four years of hard work, of not taking a paycheck, to get to where we are now,” Andre said.
Andre said he believed the robbery was planned.
“In my mind, the way I see it, it was premeditated,” he said.
“He knew exactly what items he was going for. And he was in and out in 20 seconds.”
Andre said the thief cut the lock of the gate behind the property and shattered the back door, as the store has no direct street entrance.
He called on the thief to return the stolen cards “no questions asked”.
The most valuable stolen artworks currently at large
“We’ll, you know, I don’t wanna say we’ll forget it ever happened, but no questions asked,” he said.
“We’ll take our stuff back and then we’ll, we’ll drop it from there.”
