This morning, Victorian Police have issued a statement saying that arrests have been made in the case of all break-ins at collectible game stores across Melbourne, where Pokémon TCG cards were targeted.
Victorian Police say they have arrested four people in the syndicated crime group over the last week in their investigations into the commercial burglaries. Police will allege that the group was involved in stealing six cryptocurrency ATMs along with a series of break-ins at local game stores since mid-January.
This group is alleged to be responsible for break-ins at least three of the local game stores. Police say they have uncovered an “Aladdin’s cave of items,” including approximately $50,000 worth of trading card games, including “Pokémon, Disney Lorcana, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic: The Gathering, Dragon Ball Z, AFL, and NBA”.
Four people have been arrested in total. Two men, alleged to be the primary offenders by police, have been remanded in custody to appear in court — one this week and the other in May. Two other men were released pending further investigations.
North West Metro Regional Crime Squad, Detective Inspector Patrick Watkinson says “This was a highly organised and coordinated police operation, and we thank the vigilance of the affected trading card community and the invaluable support from industry partners – which assisted in the dismantling of a significant network of offenders.
“We are confident that we have apprehended the main offenders who were sharing their criminal trade craft with lesser offenders”.