Share this @internewscast.comFacebookXRedditPinterestEquipped with a golf club, the burglar forced entry into the Moonee Ponds store during the early hours of April 14, then proceeded to fill a bag with Pokemon cards valued at over $3000 before escaping. “Beyond the stock value and damage, there’s significant time and effort involved, and it really takes a toll on you,” explained store owner Lucas Hipkins. Armed with a golf club, the thief smashed his way into the Moonee Ponds store in the early hours of April 14 before filling a bag with more than $3000 worth of Pokemon cards and fleeing.(Nine) This burglary happened approximately two months after police disrupted an organized crime ring allegedly responsible for multiple robberies at collectible shops throughout Melbourne. Four people were arrested and two of them were charged. “Kind of figured it was just a matter of time before we got hit,” Hipkins said. “I believe the the criminals that were doing the rounds a few months ago were targeting stores that sold individual cards that were of very high value, where the guy that came in here was just getting the sealed packets, so he may or may not have hit it big.” Police have not linked the April 14 incident to the spree of break-ins earlier in the year. But with the offender still on the run, they won’t rule it out of the investigation. “It hurts, you know, we’re a very small business, we’ve got four stores, but we only have 10 staff and it’s primarily my wife and myself that … run the business, so it sort of feels, you know, almost personal I guess,” Hipkins said.