Security video has captured the moment brazen thieves tunneled through a collectibles store’s wall in California and stole $180,000 worth of Pokémon cards, police say.
DOWE Collectibles in North Orange County was ransacked early Wednesday morning by four suspects looking to get their hands on the popular trading cards from the mammoth Japanese media franchise, according to the Anaheim Police Department.
The suspected thieves first broke into a neighboring business, police said.
They then used a sledgehammer to break through the connecting wall and entered the collectibles store through the hole, according to authorities.
Video of the heist was obtained by The Independent and first reported by local outlet KTLA. The store’s security cameras appear to show a suspect using a sledgehammer to break into glass cases mounted on walls filled with Pokémon cards.
Another suspect appeared to hastily grab the cards and put them in a garbage bag.
The store’s glass counters also appeared to be raided, according to the video. The suspects then fled the store in a dark-colored sedan.
Duy Pham, the store’s owner, told KTLA that he called police as soon as his phone alerted him to the break-in.
“I clicked on the footage and saw guys coming through the hole,” Pham said. “My heart was pounding.”
Pham said the suspects didn’t target the store’s electronics, adding, “They were here for the cards.”
The store owner said the suspected thieves stole more than 500 cards in a matter of minutes. Some of those cards were worth thousands of dollars each, according to Pham.
In an Instagram post announcing the theft, DOWE Collectibles said its store was “broken into for the second time.”
“To those responsible, sooner or later, you will be held accountable,” the post read.
Anaheim police are yet to catch the suspects as of Friday afternoon, but tell The Independent they are following up on some leads.
The Pokémon franchise has soared in popularity since Nintendo released the first Pokémon video games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Green, in Japan in 1996.
A 1st edition 1999 Pokémon card of the famed character Charizard is going for just under $600,000 on eBay. It was in 49 buyers’ carts Friday afternoon.
