A 28-year-old man has been arrested for allegedly using a rope to descend into a Japanese store and stealing Pokémon cards and cash, according to a report from Mainichi (via Kotaku).
Tokyo resident Kensuke Nakanishi is suspected of descending from a six-story rooftop and into a top-floor store in the Higashi-Ikebukuro district around 5 A.M. on March 23. Nakanishi allegedly made off initially with 1 million yen (approximately $9,100 USD) worth of Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokémon cards, as well as 260,000 yen ($2,370 USD) in cash from the store office.
Nakanishi later reportedly told authorities that he committed the act to pay off a debt. Ikebukuro police approached Nakanishi as a suspect after he was identified thanks to security camera footage.
Evidently, Nakanishi wasn’t terribly out of his element during the robbery, reportedly telling police "I was in the rock climbing club in high school, so I wasn't afraid of heights."
Nakanishi really only had to climb five meters (~16 feet) from the top of the six-story building to a window on the sixth floor, which he reportedly broke through using an unidentified tool.
Decades after debuting across the globe, Pokémon trading cards are still pulling impressive resale values. In 2019, collectors offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to a $60,000 Pokémon card. More recently, McDonald's Pokemon cards sold as part of Happy Meals have been scooped up by scalpers.If you're wondering if your old Pokemon cards are worth any money, check out our value guide. Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer/trainer for IGN.
