ASIAN households are being targeted by thieves looking for gold in a housebreaking crimewave sweeping Scotland.
Over £600,000 of cash and jewellery was taken in 44 housebreakings in the west of Scotland in July alone, Police Scotland has revealed.
It follows a similar spate of thefts in Fife, Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire and the Lothians.
One Asian community source said the reported thefts may be the tip of the iceberg as families are afraid to come forward, following incidents where it has been claimed children were threatened with a knife and acid by housebreakers demanding to know where their gold is hidden.
Gold is highly valued in Asian communities, particularly in the Indian subcontinent where it is given as a gift at weddings in which the bride is draped from head to toe in gold. Around three quarters of the global demand for gold comes from India and China.
Most of the thefts in the latest criminal goldrush have happened in the Newton Mearns and Robroyston areas.
Detective Inspector John Morrison said: "We believe that these homes are being targeted as it is only jewellery and cash that is being stolen.
"We also believe that these crimes are linked and we are following a number of lines of enquiry in relation to them.
"We would always urge anyone with high value jewellery and large amounts of cash, not to keep them in the house and take the relevant security measures.
"If you have to store it in your house, store it securely and out of sight, such as in an anchored safe.
"Anyone with high value items should take photos of them, as this can assist police identify the pieces, should they be recovered.”
DI Morrison also advised people to be extra vigilant, be wary of cold callers and ensure any callers are legitimate tradesmen.
Several properties in Kirkcaldy, Glenrothes, Dalgety Bay and Dunfermline have also been raided in the last month.
Two Asian families from Renfrew were targeted over the summer.
The Abbas family lost £35,000 of pounds worth of jewellery, as well as a large sum of cash, when their home was ransacked by three raiders in August.
The hooded trio left behind valuable iPods, laptops and even similar looking cheaper jewels as they ripped the house apart in search of quality gold.
Shakeel Majid Abbas, known as Shaq to friends, believes the house was being watched by a professional crime gang that deliberately targets Asian families in a bid to steal expensive jewellery.
The break-in at Marjory Road, Renfrew, follows a similar incident in nearby Campsie Drive in the town in July.
In April, a violent armed gang robbed a frail grandmother in Giffnock, and are also suspected of hitting another house in Paisley on the same night.
Bilqis Begum Chaudhry, 69, was threatened with a knife in her home by thieves who made off with £4500 in cash and other valuables.
Thieves made off with more than £20,000 worth of jewellery and £7000 in cash from the house in Paisley the same night.
Suraj Dhakal, 25, told the Paisley Daily Express: "All the jewellery my sister wore for her wedding is gone. My mum has been collecting the jewellery since she was 15."
Foysol Choudhury, chair of Edinburgh and Lothian's Regional Equality Council, said a spate of thefts in Edinburgh around 18 months ago forced Asian families to install security cameras and put their family gold in bank deposit boxes.
He said: “My message to the thieves is: don’t bother.
“The community is very aware of the incidents that have been going on, and they are taking enough measures to make sure they don’t have valuables in the house and their houses have been secured with CCTV cameras.”
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