In the early hours of a Monday, two men forced their way into a small games store on Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds and carried off roughly $15,000 in Pokemon and One Piece cards, the second time this shopkeeper has been struck in a few months. The break-in is a reminder of how much value a small collectables trade can hold in a few cardboard boxes, and how fragile that value is to a single night's intrusion. The owner, Lucas Hipkins, has chosen to answer the theft not with silence but with a restock and an open invitation back to his customers. Police from the Moonee Valley Crime Investigation
Moonee Ponds games store hit again as thieves steal $15,000 in Pokemon and One Piece cards
Two thieves, one alarm, and a counter they had to climb
Mark
Two burglaries at one store in a few months. What's the scale difference?
Mimi
April was a golf club and a bit over $3000 in Pokemon cards. This time it's about $15,000 in Pokemon and One Piece stock, so roughly five times as much.
Mark
The owner is joking in the video. Is that how to read his mood?
Mimi
Partly. He's using humour, but he also says the mess makes it hard to share the joy of the games, and that customer stock was disrupted.
Luke
Worth saying the $15,000 figure is reported as the approximate value of stock. The source doesn't say whether that's retail price or cost.
Mark
And the time of the break-in?
Luke
Police say about 3am. Hipkins says 3.30 in his video. A small gap, but it's unresolved.
Mark
Is this connected to the syndicate police broke up earlier?
Luke
Not as far as anyone has said. Police explicitly haven't linked it to that spree, so any connection would be speculation.
Mimi
What's established is the footage, the car description, and an active investigation.
Luke
And nobody has been identified or arrested, as far as the reporting shows.
Il Polso
- Two men kicked in the front door of a Moonee Ponds games store before dawn and vanished with about $15,000 in trading card stock.
- The same shop was hit in April, when an armed burglar smashed in with a golf club and took more than $3,000 in Pokemon cards.
- Chaos behind the counter: cards scattered, a camera torn from the wall, and stock set aside for customers thrown into disarray.
- Detectives are combing through CCTV footage of the pair, and the owner is publicly sharing the video in hopes of a lead.
- The store plans to restock and reopen to customers, while police urge anyone with footage or dashcam video to call Crime Stoppers.
In the early hours of a Monday, two men forced their way into a small games store on Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds and carried off roughly $15,000 in Pokemon and One Piece cards, the second time this shopkeeper has been struck in a few months. The break-in is a reminder of how much value a small collectables trade can hold in a few cardboard boxes, and how fragile that value is to a single night's intrusion. The owner, Lucas Hipkins, has chosen to answer the theft not with silence but with a restock and an open invitation back to his customers. Police from the Moonee Valley Crime Investigation Unit are now working through the cameras that recorded it all.
Shortly before dawn on a Monday, two men kicked in the front door of Mind Games, a games store on Puckle Street in Moonee Ponds. They climbed over the counter, grabbed a haul of Pokemon and One Piece cards, loaded it into a large black box, and drove away in a dark-blue Mini hatch. Police value the stolen stock at about $15,000.
The store's owner, Lucas Hipkins, watched the security footage and posted it online with his own commentary. He nicknamed the thieves Tweedledee and Tweedledum and noted that one of them pushed back his hood, leaving part of his face on camera. The pair were clumsy. One man fell to his knees on the counter, another fumbled the cards he was trying to take, and one pulled a camera from the wall before they fled.
The damage went well beyond the missing stock. The men left the store in disarray, disrupting business and stock set aside for customers. Hipkins says the store will restock and keep trading, and he has invited customers back soon.
This was not the first break-in. In April, an armed burglar used a golf club to smash into the same shop and steal more than $3,000 in Pokemon cards. Police have not linked the two incidents to an organised crime syndicate recently dismantled after a string of collectables store robberies across Melbourne.
Detectives from the Moonee Valley Crime Investigation Unit are reviewing the CCTV. Anyone who saw the break-in or has footage is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
At about 3am on Monday, two men kicked in the front door of Mind Games, a games store on Puckle St in Moonee Ponds. According to Victoria Police, they climbed over the counter and took a range of items, including Pokemon cards. The haul was put into a large black box, and the pair drove off in a dark-blue Mini hatch. The stolen stock is valued at about $15,000.
Security cameras recorded it all, and the store's owner, Lucas Hipkins, posted the footage online. In the video he gives the thieves nicknames, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. "We were robbed again at 3.30 in the morning on Monday night," he says, describing two trading card game bandits who took a quantity of One Piece and Pokemon stock. His timing differs slightly from police, who put the break-in at about 3am.
The footage shows one man in an orange high-vis jacket and another in a black hoodie worn under a yellow high-vis vest. They enter and move quickly behind the counter. One appears to push back his hood once inside, leaving part of his face exposed, which Hipkins remarks on in his commentary. "This guy likes being on camera, so that's nice at least," he says.
The pair did not work smoothly. One man drops to his knees on the counter as they grab stock and try to gather it up before the security alarm sounds. Hipkins notes that Tweedledee fumbles the stock he is trying to steal. At one point, one of the men pulls a camera off the wall, and Hipkins says that gives viewers another look at his face. Even so, the two got away with a significant amount of Pokemon and One Piece cards.
The damage goes beyond the missing stock. Hipkins says the men did a lot of damage to the store and left it in a mess, which has disrupted business, including stock set aside for customers. He says there were even free cards the thieves considered taking. Despite that, he says the store will restock and keep trading, and he invited customers to come in soon.
This was not the first time. In April, CCTV showed an armed burglar smash his way into the same shop with a golf club and steal more than $3000 worth of Pokemon cards. That break-in came just months after police dismantled an organised crime syndicate linked to a string of robberies at collectable stores across Melbourne. Police have not linked the Moonee Ponds incidents to that spree.
Detectives from the Moonee Valley Crime Investigation Unit are investigating and are aware of the CCTV footage. Anyone who witnessed the burglary, or who has CCTV, dashcam footage or other information, is asked to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
Citazioni salienti
We're gonna restock though and keep on selling so come in soon.— Lucas Hipkins, Mind Games owner
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