Thieves in California now know what thieves in India knew all the time – the Gold obsession of Indians. Even the most secure places to hide gold, like the kitchen are no longer safe.
The burglars break into homes while families are out socializing on Friday and Saturday nights. They know where to look, and they waste little time: They grab the cash and the gold jewelry and split.
Some of the families were gone for only an hour, some for the evening.
Since December, the homes of at least 14 Indo-American families have been burglarized on weekend nights in Silicon Valley. The families fear they are being targeted because of their preference for 22- and 24-karat gold jewelry.
Police in some of the communities, including San Jose and Sunnyvale, said they have yet to see a trend of Indian homes being burglarized. But in interviews with the Mercury News, five of the victims said they are now so afraid, they don’t want their names used. They all expressed concern that different burglars would come for what was left behind the first time: laptops, camcorders and digital cameras.
`They ransacked the master bedroom and found jewelry in every place in my house where I had it,” said the man, a Santa Clara resident. “It looks like they know where to look. There are some subcultures in India where it’s pretty common to hide jewelry in the kitchen, and these burglars are also looking in kitchens.”[Burglaries raising fear]
