Burglars and snatch thieves are targeting South Asian homes and women for their jewelry as the price of gold soars above US$1,000.
Across North America, from Fairfax in Virginia to Houston, Texas to Central Illinois and St, Paul, Minnesota to Surrey, B.C., communities with large South Asian diasporas are being warned of a crime wave fuelled by the price of gold.
Indian and South Asian communities traditionally pass collections of 22-karat gold from generation to generation.  Some of the break-ins in the United States have netted more than US$100,000 worth of jewelry, victims reported.
Gold in the form of bangles, necklaces and other jewelry is also viewed as a safe investment or safety net in South Asian communities.
With the wedding season in full tilt, Indian families also typically give gold jewelry as gifts to newlywed brides.
The unsolved crimes mirror a pattern of 93 burglaries in Houston, Texas, 37 in Central Illinois, a few others outside St. Paul, Minnesota, 38 burglaries in Fairfax, a suburb of Washington DC, in neighboring Virginia and at least six incidents of men ripping off gold earrings from South Asian women in Surrey.
Home security consultants and police are advising those with large amounts of jewelry to keep them in bank safety deposit boxes and to be alert when wearing gold or diamonds in public.
“Insurance companies are not likely to cover the losses, if the jewelry is not specifically listed in the policy,” said a security consultant.
“My best advice is not to flaunt your jewels at this time,” he said.
In Surrey, B.C. the RCMP has reported that at least six East Indian women have been attacked recently on Surrey streets for their gold earrings.
The assailant approached the women from behind while they were walking alone and snatched one of their earrings out of their ears. There were no injuries.
Surrey RCMP spokesman Sgt. Roger Morrow the women, aged 38 to 69, were attacked in the morning -- between 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. -- in the area of 128th Street and 96th Avenue, between Sept. 15 and Oct. 3.
The RCMP believes that there are more victims and described the suspect as a Caucasian male, approximately 30 years old, between 5’10” - 6’ feet tall, slim build, short brown hair, unshaven, wearing a blue cap, blue jacket, and blue jeans.
Police are requesting the public’s assistance and those who require assistance in Punjabi are asked to contact the Surrey RCMP’s Victim Services Line at 604-599-7600 and ask for Rummy or Julia.
Indian jewelers in Surrey and on Vancouver’s Main Street said there is a lot of talk about burglars and snatch thieves targeting East Indian women.
“Gold is easy to pawn … a set of 22-karat gold earring earrings that we sell for $800 can easily fetch $400 in the black market. How many cars do you have to break in to get that,” said a Main Street jeweler in Vancouver.
“With the wedding season on people should be more careful,” he added.
In Fairfax, the community recently held town hall meetings and brought together victims of at least 38 burglaries in the last few months to seek concerted action.
They have written to their politicians and even President Barack Obama to draw attention to their plight.
In an online petition, they said: “We strongly believe that all these burglaries are orchestrated by an organized gang of burglars who have sophisticated equipment to detect gold, duplicate security codes and enter homes without setting off alarms — we have lost millions of dollars in valuables; more importantly, the items stolen represent memories of our heritage and key events in our lives that can never be replaced.”
One of the victims was Raman Kumar, an IT professional whose house was burgled when he was out for lunch with a friend.
When the family returned home, they found the bedroom ransacked with precious gold and diamond jewelry gone. Also gone was a gold statute of Lakshmi, the Hindu goddess of wealth, and seven ‘mangal sutras’.
“They knew what they were looking for,” Kumar told IANS. “They seemed to be mainly interested in 22-karat gold and jewelry and didn’t touch artificial jewelry at all.”
An Indian American consultant with IBM, who did not wish to be identified lest it worry people back home in India, found his house burgled on Oct. 15 after a day out. The burglars seem to have broken in through the back door after disarming his alarm system and cutting telephone wires.
Vindhya Kommineni of Fair Oaks lost her expensive wedding rings and saris besides a sterling dinner set that included gold inlay on Oct. 6.
The Komminenis had installed a sophisticated security system after hearing of earlier break-ins. But the thieves still managed to break in through a rear door after disabling the security system.
Investigators believe the burglars may have been tracking their victims.
Meanwhile reports out of Asia said gold has confounded expectations by comfortably consolidating above $1,000 an ounce, and traditional buyers in the jewelry market are facing up to the reality that higher prices are here to stay.
“I would not advise anyone to short this market,” said Jeffrey Rhodes, CEO of INTL Commodities in Dubai. You might not see gold below US$900 again,” said Rhodes, according to a report in Asia O