TORONTO — Jewellers in Brampton, Ont., remain on high alert after several brazen robberies and attempted robberies that took place over the last few months in 2015.
One of the most violent robbery attempts happened inside Zia Mohmmed’s home, near Fontainebleu Road and Louvain Drive, in Brampton. Just before Christmas, Mohammed and his father arrived at their house to find three male suspects waiting for them inside.
His mother and nine-year-old son were already bound and gagged upstairs.
Mohammed told Global News the attackers demanded the key to his jewelry store in Mississauga, along with codes for the alarm system and the safe. When Mohammed refused, he and his father were bound with zip ties, gagged with duct tape and beaten at gunpoint for half an hour.
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His wife and two daughters came home during the attack. They were also handcuffed, gagged and beaten before being separated by their attackers.
Mohammed managed to escape. Still handcuffed and gagged, he knocked on his neighbours’ doors for help.
“They know what I do, where I’m living, who’s working in the store, how many people work in the store. They know everything. They were well-planned,” said Mohammed said of the attackers.
Since the attack Mohammed has transformed his home into a fortress with bars on the windows and back doors, an iron gate at the front door and at least eight cameras zooming in on every angle inside and outside the home.
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“We are still in a scary situation, still living in fear. I feel like I am living in a jail, like a cage,” he said.
Many other jewelry store owners say they feel the same – fortifying their homes with bars and cameras like a security facility and not a home.
Some members of the South Asian Jewellers Association say they are considering closing up shop and moving elsewhere.
Just three weeks ago there was another attempted robbery at a jeweller’s home in the middle of the night. In that instance the home owner called police and the suspects fled.
The Peel Regional Police Crime Prevention Unit and Crime Stoppers are working with the South Asian Jewellers Association on giving them tips on how to protect themselves and their families. In addition a $50,000 reward is being offered by the jewellers’ group to anyone who can provide police with information in their ongoing investigation.
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