Man held after Pokémon cards worth £250k seized

The stolen Pokémon cards are estimated to be worth about £250,000 by police

A man has been arrested after police discovered a stolen haul of rare Pokémon cards worth an estimated £250,000.

The collectible cards were found by officers in a raid on a home in Hyde on Wednesday, Greater Manchester Police (GMP) said.

The force is now trying to return the cards, found wrapped in plastic labelled with price tags ranging up to £560, to their original owners.

A police spokesman joked later joked "gotta catch 'em all" after photos of the cards were shared online.

Some rarer cards can fetch hundreds or even thousands of pounds

Introduced by Nintendo in 1996 for the Game Boy console, the Pokémon game sees players having to catch, train and battle virtual monsters.

The first set of Pokémon cards was released on 20 October 1996 and contained 102 cards.

By 1999, the popularity in the trading card game boomed and it is estimated that more than 30bn cards have been printed, with some rarer cards fetching thousands.