Asian Indian residents across metro Atlanta have become targets in recent months for thieves hungry for gold jewelry.
Home invasion robberies and burglaries have been reported by Asian Indian residents of Alpharetta and Cobb County. And a series of home break-ins also has been reported in Roswell, Johns Creek and Gwinnett County.
Cobb police spokesman Dana Pierce said the suspects are believed to be Colombian gang members. Police believe that the thieves are zeroing in on Asian Indians because the price of gold hit an all-time high this year and it is customary for Asian Indian families to possess gold jewelry. Often that jewelry is handed down from generation to generation or purchased for gifts.
Similar burglaries and robberies targeting Asian Indians are being reported in northern Virginia, central Illinois, Houston and St. Paul, Minn., as well as in the United Kingdom.
About 300 people packed an Eye on Crime meeting recently at an Indian restaurant in Marietta to hear from police about the problem. Chand Akkineni, who is active in several community organizations and owns an Atlanta IT business, formed Eye on Crime this year with the help of four other metro Atlanta Asian Indian residents.
The group aims to aggregate and disseminate information about the recent crimes.
It’s unclear how many such burglaries and robberies have occurred, because police typically do not differentiate them by ethnicity or race when compiling crime statistics. Eye on Crime organizers say they are aware of 20 burglaries or robberies targeting Asian Indians based upon accounts they have heard from victims.
“We are trying to see how we can help police,” Akkineni said. “We don’t want to spread rumors also. We want to validate and verify a crime happened, and then share the modus operandi so that people can be careful.”
There are about 96,000 Asian Indians living in Georgia, comprising about 1 percent of the state’s population, according to the 2010 U.S. Census.
Spurring the demand is a steady rise in gold prices brought on by worries about the shakiness of the global economy. The price of the precious metal climbed for the 11th consecutive year in 2011. It was trading at about $1,680 an ounce Monday.
A 44-year-old Marietta woman who asked to remain anonymous said burglars smashed through a glass-paneled back door into her house in February.
The thieves bypassed three laptops, a television and a video game system to steal a pair of gold earrings and a gold chain necklace.
Another victim, a 48-year-old east Cobb County man who also asked not to be identified, said burglars broke into his home Dec. 2. He has since learned of the other incidents through email chatter with friends in the Asian Indian community.
The following thefts involving Asian Indian victims appear to be concentrated in some affluent suburbs north of Atlanta: two home-invasion robberies and several burglaries in Alpharetta, a dozen burglaries and five robberies in Cobb County and Marietta, 12 burglaries in Johns Creek and four burglaries in Gwinnett County.
Gwinnett police spokesman Cpl. Jake Smith said detectives are working with other law enforcement agencies on what has turned into “a pretty monster investigation.”
“The thinking right now is that the same group of people is likely responsible for all these,” Smith said.
Akkineni said Eye on Crime will continue to operate until police arrest the culprits.
“What we’re trying to do is create awareness that this is happening and it could happen to anybody,” Akkineni said.
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