By Lewis Jackson
SYDNEY (Reuters) – An Australian man is set to appear in court on Wednesday after being arrested for the alleged theft of more than A$600,000 ($393,000) worth of commemorative coins linked to the popular children’s television show “Bluey”, police said.
The 47-year-old is accused of stealing 63,000 unreleased, limited-edition A$1 coins from a warehouse in the Sydney suburb of Wetherill Park in June, according to “Strike Force Bandit,” a special unit police set up to investigate the theft.
One of last year’s most streamed television shows in the United States, the Australian animated show targeted at children is widely loved by adults and was the 14th highest rated show of all time, the movie tracker website IMDB.com shows.
The commemorative issues produced by the Australian mintlook like A$1 coins and sell for A$20 each on its official website. One eBay seller was charging almost A$600 for a pack of three.
Police say the man worked at the warehouse and stole the coins from the back of a truck, before selling them online within hours.
“They are now being sold online for ten times their face value,” police added in a statement.
A raid on a Sydney house in June recovered 189 coins. Police arrested the man at a separate Sydney home on Wednesday.
($1=1.5267 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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