A store specializing in Pokémon trading cards was burglarized on the night of August 12-13 in Bourgoin-Jallieu, Isère, for an estimated loss of nearly 80,000 euros.
Four masked men in a matter of minutes
According to police, the robbery occurred around 4 a.m. when four masked individuals forced open the front door of the Smogtrade store, located on Place Président Carnot. Alerted by the owner, police arrived in less than a minute, but the burglars had already fled in a gray station wagon, having been triggered by the alarm.
The store manager, who wished to remain anonymous, said that the thieves had time to take several hundred cards, almost all from the Pokémon franchise, before disappearing.
A seventh or eighth attack in four months
The shop owner, who reopened the very next day at noon with the support of regular customers, says he feels as vulnerable as a jewelry store given the sums of money involved, while his main concern is the safety of his employees in the event of another break-in. According to him, seven or eight similar burglaries have targeted trading card shops in the area over the past four months.
Rare Pokémon cards, regularly targeted by this type of theft in France and abroad, can fetch considerable sums on the collector's market, with a Pikachu card recently being auctioned for a record $16,5 million.
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