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Moment brazen thief nicks 20,000 worth of Pokemon cards in daring raid

Husband and wife Nicola and Matt Harmel have run the Picklestix trading card shop in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, for three years and were done over for 20,000 worth of stock

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The brazen thief took around 20,000 of cards(Image: Nicola Harmel / SWNS)

A brazen thief broke into a shop to steal tens of thousands of pounds worth of collectable cards. Shocking CCTV footage shows the exact moment the thief broke into the games shop and stole 20k worth of the popular Pokmon cards.

Husband and wife Nicola and Matt Harmel have run the Picklestix trading card shop in St Neots, Cambridgeshire, for three years.

But they were left shocked on Tuesday, March 24, to find that someone had stolen 20,000 worth of trading cards from the family-run store in the middle of the night.

Nicola, 39, said her husband had originally thought a volunteer had just left their shop in a mess before realising the gravity of the situation.

[The shop was broken into]

The shop was broken into(Image: Nicola Harmel / SWNS)

She said: We came in on Tuesday morning I was walking the dog. My partner came in, and as I caught up with him he said the shops been left in a mess.

He phoned one of our volunteers that works on a Monday evening doing a play event and said look, youve left the shop in a right mess whats gone on?

It was only when I pointed out the window was smashed, the penny just dropped.

His heart just sunk, the cabinets were empty. It looked like someone had come in and thrown a swingball around there were cards on the floor, all the doors had been ripped open.

[The shop was ransacked]

The shop was ransacked(Image: Nicola Harmel / SWNS)

The thief managed to dodge barbed wire and endured alarms to gain entry through a small window at the back of the shop, which backs onto a staff-only car park.

He then disconnected the shops CCTV system.

As well as the shops till, the thief took around 20,000 worth of Pokmon cards including a Japanese GX acrylic box of cards worth 1,000 on its own, and an original pristine condition Bulbasaur card from the 1990s worth 250.

Nicola said: I think they grabbed whatever they could in the time they were in here, because they did leave a 300 Charizard on the shelf, which was priced.

All our cards are on display so people can see the pricing.

[The family say 20,000 of stock was taken]

The family say 20,000 of stock was taken(Image: Nicola Harmel / SWNS)

We have five cabinets in our shop, they got through the first three and took everything from the first three, leaving the low-end value stuff in the very last cabinet, which was 10 cards rather than the 40 to 300 cards.

After the shop posted about the theft on Instagram, other shop owners shared their experiences of similar thefts of Pokmon cards.

The owner of Hertfordshire Vintage Toys commented: We have stopped selling cards and Pokmon after our break-in.

It sucks, but [we] cant afford for the insurance to go up or the damage it causes. I think this is number nine of burglaries Ive seen now.

Nicola believes a resurgence in Pokmons popularity has increased the likelihood of break-ins.

She said: Pokmon has hit its 30th anniversary this year, and a lot of people have put their money into this product rather than the stock markets, because the profit margin is a lot higher than it used to be.

Cambridgeshire Police said: We were informed of a break-in overnight at a shop in Fishers Yard, St Neots, where a significant quantity of trading cards has been taken.

Officers attended and an investigation has been launched. Anyone with information should contact us on 101 quoting 35/21666/26.

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