Thief avoids jail after stealing rare Pokemon card worth £30,000

A rare Pokemon card was stolen from its owner and put on Facebook (Picture: Sussex Police)

A thief who admitted stealing a rare Pokemon card valued at up to £30,000 has received a caution as the trading card was handed back to its owner.

Sussex Police was called by a company that values Pokemon cards in Heathfield, East Sussex, on October 21, after the precious Charizard card was sent back to its owner in Essex – who had not received it.

The collectable card was then discovered to be up for sale on Facebook.

A 23-year-old man from Polegate was arrested on suspicion of theft on October 27, and admitted stealing the card worth between £20,000 and £30,000 in a police interview and was given a caution.

The rare card was valued at around £30,000 (Picture: The Pokemon Company)

A police spokesperson said: ‘A search order was authorised on his property and officers found the rare card inside.

‘After a voluntary interview, the suspect admitted to stealing the card and showed remorse for his actions.’

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The card was believed to be stolen between September 2-5 in Heathfield.

PC Alan Russell, who handled the initial investigation, said: ‘We identified a line of inquiry quickly and were able act quickly.

‘It was a valuable item which meant a lot to the victim who had it stolen.

‘The victim is happy that his card was returned and our teams worked really well together to solve this case.’

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