Tens of thousands of dollars worth of Pokemon cards have been stolen during a string of attacks on collectable stores across Melbourne.
A group of thieves hit businesses in Thomastown on Monday, Moonee Ponds on Wednesday and Eumemmering yesterday.
They used crowbars to get into the locked stores and brought wheelie bins to fill with collectable items.
CCTV footage showed the group ignoring alarm-triggered lights and loud sirens to instead clear the shelves and load their getaway cars.
Grand J Games’ Jason Zhe said he had just locked up his store and left when the thieves broke their way in.
“That’s what really scares me. These people were stalking me, they’ve figured out my routine and they’ve attacked when I left,” he said.
“They had a wheelie bin, they had this entire thing planned out,” he added.
Blacklist Cards and Collectables’ Umit Berkant said what happened was “shattering”.
“They’re just animals,” he said.
“I don’t think they seem to understand that these are small businesses.”
In total, each store has lost thousands of dollars in stock and more for damages.
The most expensive cards were worth up to $600 each.
Police are searching for the trio and, in the meantime, the collectable stores are keeping in contact to make selling and profiting from the cards a lot harder.
“There’s that many people that are now keeping an eye out for everyone around us that eventually something’s gonna pop up or one mistake’s gonna be made and all of a sudden, we’ve cracked the code,” Berkant said.
