The adverse effects of the recession are provoking an increase in criminal activity, including theft, robbery, and carjacking, according to a report by the Weekly Thikana. These crimes are affecting different parts of New York City, particularly where Bangladeshi immigrants reside and maintain businesses.

The report reveals that it is not infrequent for criminals to attack Bangladeshi residences, cars and shops in broad daylight and steal their belongings. Bangladeshi pedestrians are frequently abducted and robbed.

According to Thikana, many people have become unemployed and laid off due to the closure of small and large-scale business establishments in New York, as well as elsewhere in the United States.

Mr. Abdul Jalil, a businessman in Astoria, Queens, informed Thikana that incidents of theft to businesses increased in recent days. Thieves target shops where there are few employees, and usually enter as a group. The technique is to ask the cashier to show them an item they wish to purchase. Taking advantage of the absence of the cashier, they loot the cashbox. Just last week, a number of robbers stole hundreds of dollars from the cashbox of a shop in Astoria. The police were called, but they reached the spot after the criminals had slipped away.

A businessman in Jamaica, Queens, observed that Bangladeshi Americans are frequent victims of theft, with some being wounded and, in one incident, needing to be hospitalized. Just a few days ago, thieves assaulted a Bangladeshi businessman, confining him to the basement of his shop and fleeing with all the money in his cashbox.

Another businessman in Jackson Heights, Queens, informed this paper that incidents of stolen cars and their accessories are on the rise in the area. A common technique is to break into parked cars while the owners are shopping and drive away with the car. He said he thinks it is largely Hispanics and Bangladeshis who are engaged in the carjacking.

Meanwhile, Thikana reports, a new thieving technique is in use in Jackson Heights in which Bangladeshis are also the target. A group of men “find” a bundle of dollar bills on the sidewalk and approach a bystander with the proposition to share the bundle of dollars with them. If the person is stupid and greedy he or she falls into their trap and agrees to go to a solitary place with the group, who then steal his or her belongings. The criminals threaten the victims with dire consequences if they inform the police. A good number Bangladeshis have fallen victim to this scam, but seldom report the incident out of a sense of shame.

In recent days, there have been reports of robberies in Brooklyn, Queens and in other areas of the city, where individuals ring the doorbell of a residential house and claim to be from a government office. As soon as they are allowed to enter the house, they pull out guns and rob them of their valuables. "This type of incident occurs almost daily in Brooklyn, Ozone Park, the Bronx, as well as other areas of New York," states the Thikana report.

In order to avoid being a victim to these type of incidents, Thikana concludes, there are a number of preventive measures: First, remain alert when walking along a street; second, when entering a train, particularly late at night, choose a wagon with many passengers inside; third, business owners should remain very cautions when unknown people enter their store asking for help; and never open the door to your home without first checking who is at the door.