The RCMP is searching for a suspect after thousands of dollars’ worth of rare game cards were stolen from a comic book store in Moncton.

One of the cards has a price tag of more than $6,000 and both staff and police believe the thief knew exactly what he was looking for.

The incident was caught on the store’s surveillance camera; a hooded individual can be seen entering the Comic Hunter on Main Street early Friday morning.

The incident is especially brazen given the fact that the store is located directly across the street from Codiac RCMP headquarters.

“Most of what he took were our single Magic cards from our stock, being the Black Lotus cards, which have been out of print for years, priced at $6,300,” says store manager Jonathan Armstrong.

Staff are still compiling a list of which cards were stolen, but they estimate losses to be around $15,000.

They say it appears the thief used a small hammer to smash out the glass bottom of the door, climbed through the hole, then broke into a display case containing valuable "Magic: The Gathering" trading cards.

Considering the value of the heist and the speed with which the thief entered and left the store, police say it’s clear the thief knew what to look for and where to find it.

“There’s a good possibility because of what they took, and what they only took, but that’s still part of the investigation at this time,” says RCMP Sgt. Andre Pepin.

“There’s very high potential he’s been here before because he knew exactly where to go,” says Armstrong. “Those were one of the first things he grabbed, was that tray with those particular cards.”

Armstrong says the thief won’t have any trouble finding a buyer for the stolen cards.

“There’s a huge global market online. Basically, wherever you can buy and sell anything online, legal or illegal, there’s always a market for cards,” he says.

Black Lotus cards sell for several thousand dollars online, depending on their condition. On Monday, one mint-condition card was listed on eBay for $63,120 (US$48,000), while a few near-mint-condition cards were up for $6,000-$8,000 Canadian.

Police say they are investigating the incident and they are asking anyone with information to come forward.

The suspect is described as a man between five-foot-five and five-foot-eight. He was wearing a light-coloured hoodie.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis