Over the Easter weekend, thieves helped themselves to jewels worth an estimated £200 million which were stored at a store in Hatton Gardens in London. The raiders broke into the building through the roof and abseiled down a lift shaft. They then disabled the vault alarm before cutting through the 18in metal door using heavy cutting equipment. Police said the thieves cracked into about 60 to 70 safety deposit boxes - in what could prove to be Britain’s highest-value burglary. Estimates of the total cost of the raid have varied from tens to hundreds of millions of pounds.
We Indians adore gold and are the greatest hoarders of gold. We love gold and purchase gold ornaments. We invest in gold and give gold ornaments at weddings and other auspicious occasions. We give newly wed brides enough gold jewellery to break their necks. We offer gold to Gods at temples and adorn Gods with gold ornaments in return for redemption. In 2011 India imported more gold than any other country. Burglars are aware that plentiful gold is to be found in Indian homes and used to target Asians’ homes to steal gold ornaments. So we started storing our gold in boxes at Banks. But since the Banks stopped providing this service, we had no option but to store at safe deposit vaults which have sprung up everywhere and charge through the roof for this service. But even these deposit vaults are not safe any more.
Dinesh Sheth
Newbury Park, Ilford
