A 35-year-old man on Friday admitted to stealing 28 boxes of Pokémon cards worth €3,381.

Joar Are Lyngass, a Norwegian content writer who lives in Sliema, was charged with aggravated theft in front of Magistrate Elaine Rizzo.

Lungass stole a total of 28 boxes of collector cards from a shop in San Ġwann between May 29 and July 9.

Rizzo explained the charges to Lyngass, adding he was liable to a prison term, and providing time for him to rethink his guilty plea.

Lyngass confirmed he was guilty of the charges.

On behalf of the Attorney General, prosecutor Nicholas DeGaetano requested a protection order in favour of the victims.

The accused did not object to the protection order.

DeGaetano said there were no issues with the accused being handed a suspended sentence as long as he paid the full amount within a reasonable time frame.

Legal aid lawyer for the defence Julia Micallef Stafrace told court that Lyngass would be making the first payment on Friday evening.

The court handed a two-year prison sentence suspended for four years and ordered him to pay the €3,391.56 amount within six months.

Rizzo explained that if he failed to pay the amount in time, the victim had the right to file an application and request his imprisonment.

The protection order was issued in favour of the victims for 12 months.

Inspector Michael Vella, together with DeGaetano, led the prosecution.