The good nature of local residents, (even if they themselves are struggling to make ends meet), who generously give money and food to those in need, has led to an unfortunate downside, as more and more people, from neighboring areas, continue to flock into Laudium, desperately looking for food and money.
The influx of these people, who are unemployed, is causing a problem for residents, as many of those coming into the area, decide to stay over, sleeping on any corner they can find, including in the CBD area and in parks. Allegations are rife that many of these people turn to drugs and then steal in the area, in order to maintain their habitual vices. Police and the relevant welfare departments are seemingly doing very little, if anything, to stop the influx into the area, neither arresting those responsible for the thefts, nor arresting those who are buying the stolen wares.
In one of the many incidents of crime committed recently by these nyaopes, a small business struggling to make ends meet, fell victim to crime by a nyaope last Friday. Kogie Cantasamy (60), the owner of the Samoosa Shop, on 15th Ave (near the Laudium Temple), told the Laudium Sun, “As I approached my shop on Friday morning at around 6:50am, I saw this short guy, wearing a maroon jersey acting suspiciously. I then noticed that he was holding two light fittings. I immediately asked him where he got those lights from, but he said that it was given to him by a resident who he had done some piece job for. I did not believe him, but because I was alone I did not want to confront him. When I got to my shop, I immediately notified my neighbor of the hair salon, about the suspicious nyaope guy with the two light fittings in his hands. These nyaope boys are uncontrollable. They just do as they wish and steal from whomever they want, knowing that they will get away with it.”
Pakistani national, Bilal Lado, the manager at Al Medina Hair Salon, which is next to the Samoosa Shop, said, “When I got to my shop in the morning, the aunty from the next door shop, came to us and told us about the guy who had light fittings in his hands. We then checked on our CCTV footage. Indeed the same nyaope guy, wearing a maroon jersey, could be seen standing on a dustbin and stripping the lights from the entrance of the temple hall. It seemed on the footage that he wanted to even steal our outside light fittings, but got disturbed from a passerby. On the same day, at around midday, the same guy tried to steal from a truck delivering goods, whilst the driver was inside the shop. Fortunately he was spotted and when confronted he fled towards Emerald Street. The same afternoon after Jummah, another two guys stole 24 of our towels that were hanging outside in the yard for drying. We use towels all the time in our business and as such, they are washed all the time. These nyaopes do as they please. We actually see them hanging around and even sitting opposite our shops and watching us, but there is nothing we can do to chase them away, as then shockingly, the police want to arrest us. Even the private security companies are not doing much to get rid of them. We need to, as a community, stand united against crime, because as an individual there isn’t much one can do. We come from Pakistan to try and make an honest living in this country, but these criminals refuse to do any honest work and instead they just want to take and take from us. We provide an important service to the community and work hard for our family and our customers, but the high crime is making it very hard for us. We have not even bothered to report the matter to the police as it is just a waste of time. The police do not seem to care.”
Arvind Singh, of the Laudium Tamil Association (LTA), said, “We are presently hosting the ‘Made In India Shopping Festival’ at the temple. These nyaope guys are a real nuisance for us. They just stole two of our lights and a ten meter electric cable. We called the police but they did not even respond. We have now beefed up security for the safety of all our visitors and the stall holders, so that they can have peace of mind.”
