Vancouver police have apprehended a group of teenagers who reportedly used bear spray in a theft involving Pokémon cards. The victim had arranged to meet the suspects near East King Edward Avenue and Ontario Street to sell two cards valued at $7,000 each through Facebook Marketplace. Instead of completing the transaction, the suspects sprayed bear spray at the victim and fled in a vehicle with the cards.
Although the police managed to catch up with the suspects in Burnaby, they were only able to recover one of the stolen cards. The surge in thefts and robberies involving Pokémon cards has been attributed to the increasing value of rare cards, some of which can be worth thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. This trend has led to heightened security measures in stores across the Lower Mainland to combat a recent series of break-ins.
In response to the incident, authorities are considering pressing charges against two 15-year-old boys and one 16-year-old boy involved in the bear spray attack. The teenagers have been released under specific conditions. Law enforcement officials advise individuals engaging in buying or selling transactions to conduct them in public areas, such as the VPD Safe Exchange Location outside the Vancouver Police Department headquarters on 2120 Cambie St.