Pokemon cards worth thousands seized by airport authorities in China

Customs officers in China have seized hundreds of Pokemon Terastal Festival ex boxes from four passengers, with an estimated value in the thousands. 

Terastal Festival ex is a Japan-exclusive Pokemon TCG set that launched back on December 6, 2024. The set will launch as part of the Prismatic Evolutions expansion in the West, which will launch on January 17, 2025.

So far, the hype behind Pokemon TCG Prismatic Evolutions’ release has been incredibly high, with a complete sell-out of pre-orders on The Pokemon Center website, as well as TCGPlayer selling pre-release boxes for an eye-watering $146 for the Elite Trainer Box. 

US retailers like Target have also started to put out special countermeasures to stop scalpers, while other stores have refused to sell the cards altogether. With Prismatic Evolutions featuring reprints of rare cards, amazing alt art, and rare Eeveelution Stellar cards the set is proving incredibly popular. 

Pokemon cards seized in China airport

As you can imagine, this makes the Prismatic Evolutions pretty lucrative for collectors looking to net some rare reprints and scalpers aiming to resell them. 

According to the translated report from Sina Finance, customs officers in China’s Shenyang Taoxian Airport recently seized 593 Prismatic Evolutions boxes from four passengers entering the country. 

Sina

The passengers were noted as having entered the “no declaration channel” upon entering the country, possibly to avoid paying any customs duty fees associated with the imported items. However, their plans were foiled when officers noted that their luggage looked “abnormal” and chose to inspect the contents of the bags. 

Upon opening their luggage, they found a whopping 5,930 cards – an impressive feat when you consider that just one Prismatic Evolutions box sells for a median price of $109. With 593 boxes, you’re looking at a whopping $64,000.

Quite what will happen to the seized cards remains to be seen, but for the four passengers involved, the chances of reselling some prized cards have been scarpered.