<p>"There has been "a rash of robberies throughout Silicon Valley's Indian-American communities in recent months," the New York Times reported citing its partner newspaper the Bay Citizen.<br /><br />Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing populations in the Bay Area, and their numbers have nearly doubled to 111,000 in Santa Clara County alone in the past decade.<br />The exact number of gold thefts is difficult to determine because the crimes have happened in several jurisdictions and victims' ethnicity is not always made public, the paper said.<br />But interviews with the police, government and civic leaders, and representatives of the region's Indian-American community confirmed the trend and growing alarm, it said.<br />"It increased significantly nine months ago," Anu Natarajian, a Fremont city councilwoman was quoted as saying. "It's not a random thing that's happening. People are afraid. People are nervous about it."<br /><br />Indian-Americans were known for owning high-quality gold of 20 and 22 karats. With the price of gold surging since the recession began ($1,614 per ounce on Thursday), that makes them lucrative targets, Sergeant Jeff Swadener of the Fremont Police Department was quoted as saying.<br /><br />Most of the thefts have happened while residents were not home, and had inadvertently advertised the fact through another tradition: they leave their shoes outside the home on stoops or in racks.<br /><br />"No shoes, no one home," Sergeant Swadener said.<br /><br />Robberies of gold jewellery have been reported throughout the Bay Area in recent months, including at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations, and a gold dealer in Hayward was shot to death at his home Sep 18, the Times said.</p>
<p>"There has been "a rash of robberies throughout Silicon Valley's Indian-American communities in recent months," the New York Times reported citing its partner newspaper the Bay Citizen.<br /><br />Indian Americans are one of the fastest-growing populations in the Bay Area, and their numbers have nearly doubled to 111,000 in Santa Clara County alone in the past decade.<br />The exact number of gold thefts is difficult to determine because the crimes have happened in several jurisdictions and victims' ethnicity is not always made public, the paper said.<br />But interviews with the police, government and civic leaders, and representatives of the region's Indian-American community confirmed the trend and growing alarm, it said.<br />"It increased significantly nine months ago," Anu Natarajian, a Fremont city councilwoman was quoted as saying. "It's not a random thing that's happening. People are afraid. People are nervous about it."<br /><br />Indian-Americans were known for owning high-quality gold of 20 and 22 karats. With the price of gold surging since the recession began ($1,614 per ounce on Thursday), that makes them lucrative targets, Sergeant Jeff Swadener of the Fremont Police Department was quoted as saying.<br /><br />Most of the thefts have happened while residents were not home, and had inadvertently advertised the fact through another tradition: they leave their shoes outside the home on stoops or in racks.<br /><br />"No shoes, no one home," Sergeant Swadener said.<br /><br />Robberies of gold jewellery have been reported throughout the Bay Area in recent months, including at Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) stations, and a gold dealer in Hayward was shot to death at his home Sep 18, the Times said.</p>
