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Shop Attacked 200 Times In 10 Years (UK)
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 7-18-2007 | John Steele

Posted on 07/17/2007 7:29:14 PM PDT by blam

Shop attacked 200 times in 10 years

By John Steele
Last Updated: 2:53am BST 18/07/2007

More than half of offenders not taken to court

A corner shop run by an Asian couple has been attacked 200 times in the past decade by thieves and robbers using guns, knives and CS spray.

The owners of the K&S corner shop, in east London, have been threatened, assaulted and racially abused by thugs and feel let down by police. They fear they may be killed.

Suresh Kumar: threatened with guns, knives and CS gas

Leaders of the organisation representing small businesses believe the experiences of Suresh Kumar and his wife, Sebah, in their shop in Plaistow, are typical of thousands of shop owners whose livelihoods, and even their lives, are threatened by crime, much of it drink and drug-fuelled and violent. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said crime against shops costs at least £1.5 billion a year.

The FSB said: "The retail sector suffers the highest level of intimidation or threatening behaviour of any business sector. A third of small firms have been the victim of such crime in the past year." It demanded tougher action to protect shopkeepers.

The experiences of the Kumars were highlighted last night in an investigation broadcast on ITV's London Programme. Footage showed a robber ripping a till from the shop counter. Mr Kumar, a father of two, said he had been threatened with a gun, sprayed in the eyes with CS gas and attacked with a sword. He has suffered a broken nose and has been spat on while working in the shop. One scene captured a man shouting at him: "You just keep your mouth shut. You are Asian, you are nothing."

Working with the police, the FSB plans to offer rewards for information leading to convictions in cases where shopkeepers have been murdered.

In one of the most notorious recent cases, Mahmut Fahri had chilli powder thrown in his face and was then stabbed to death in his shop in Bounds Green, north London, in 2004 by two men who stole two bottles of whisky. One man has been jailed for life for murder and another is serving 12 years for manslaughter.

A stick-wielding raider in the K&S corner shop

John Walker, the FSB's policy chairman, said: "The local shop is often taken for granted. It's always there when we need it.

"The Government is rightly keen to regenerate deprived areas of the country. However, it cannot do so if local businesses are closing to move elsewhere. The route to success in local regeneration lies in defeating crime."

David Davis, the shadow home secretary, said: "It is outrageous but sadly not surprising that small businesses are failing to report nearly half of crimes.

"The Government has effectively decriminalised so many offences including shoplifting, which is now merely punished by the equivalent of a parking ticket - with only a 50 per cent chance of being paid anyway."


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 200times; attacked; britain; greatbritain; shop; tenyears; uk; unitedkingdom

1 posted on 07/17/2007 7:29:18 PM PDT by blam
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To: blam

This is the result of Total Gun Control (only of legitimate gun owners, of course). Blowing some worthless lowlife armed robber away can have a salutary effect on the rest of the neighborhood scum, but there’s not a chance of that happening in Britain. In fact, I don’t think you can even defend yourself with a knife or a bat in your own home or business....what a shame, that the birthplace of individual freedom has so stripped its law-abiding citizens of the fundamental right of self-protection.....


2 posted on 07/17/2007 7:41:20 PM PDT by MelonFarmerJ (Proudly Voting Conservative in every Election since 1964)
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To: blam

Exactly what the lefties/Demomarxists/et al. have in mind for us here also.


3 posted on 07/17/2007 8:00:07 PM PDT by TDA2
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To: blam

Is moving an option? Otherwise, factory work might be their next move.

If store owners were allowed to have weapons of single destruction (guns) on hand this would (perhaps) not be a problem.

Just saying …

When the bad guys have guns, and the good guys are not allowed, results are predictable.

The correction will only happen when politicians get their collective heads out of their collective ars.


4 posted on 07/17/2007 8:01:38 PM PDT by doc1019 (Fred Thompson '08)
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To: blam

[ show photo of Brad Hall ]
Now, correspondent Brad Hall has filed a very special report. Brad? Here’s to you?

[ cut to filmed footage of Brad Hall standing on a New York street ]

Brad Hall: This is Brad Hall, filing a special report on crime. I’m standing in the streets of New York City - streets virtually teeming with violent crime. In fact, statistics show, that in New York, a man is mugged every 11 seconds. I would now like you to meet that man. His name is Jesse Donnally, and he’s mugged every 11 seconds. Jesse, welcome.

Jesse Donnally: Hi, Brad.. thank you.

Brad Hall: Tell me, Jesse - do you actually get mugged every 11 seconds?

Jesse Donnally: Well, Brad, uh.. that’s the average, but, uh.. sometimes I go for more than a minute or so without getting —

[ suddenly, a mugger comes along, throws Jesse to the ground, mugs him and runs off. Jeese collects his composure and stands back up before Brad. ]

Jesse Donnally: — 11 seconds or so.. is pretty accurate.

Brad Hall: Do you have any idea why criminals like to choose you do often?

Jesse Donnally: Gee, Brad.. you know, I never really thought about it. I guess I’m just an unlucky person, you know? And —

[ suddenly, another mugger comes along, throws Jesse to the ground, mugs him and runs off ]

Brad Hall: [ helps Jesse to his feet ] I suppose you’re used to this?

Jesse Donnally: Uh, well.. it’s hard to get used to it, you know? It’s hard to go to work, you know.. with this kind of stuff going on..

Brad Hall: Well, exactly what do you do?

Jesse Donnally: Uh.. I’m a marriage counselor.

Brad Hall: Oh. Are you married yourself?

Jesse Donnally: Uh.. yes, yes. You know, it was really hard getting through the wedding ceremony, with —

[ suddenly, another mugger comes along, throws Jesse to the ground, seizes his jacket and runs off ]

Brad Hall: Is it actually money that criminals are usually looking for?

Jesse Donnally: Yeah. Definitely money they want. That’s why I carry an instant credit card, you know, to go to the bank and get the cash —

[ a little girl comes along, mugs Jesse, and runs off ]

Jesse Donnally: — for emergencies.. I like to do that.

Brad Hall: Well.. thank you for spending some of your valuable time with us.

Jesse Donnally: Thank you, Brad.

Brad Hall: Good luck to you in the near future.

Jesse Donnally: Good luck to you, Brad.

[ once again, a mugger comes along and hits up Jesse ]

Brad Hall: Crime. It affects all of us. And it affects Jesse Donnally every 11 seconds. This is Brad Hall, for SNL News, in New York. [ turns to see Jesse getting mugged yet again ] Yeah, 11 seconds - right on time!

http://snltranscripts.jt.org/83/83lnews.phtml


5 posted on 07/17/2007 8:02:53 PM PDT by lowbridge (If YouÂ’re Gonna Burn Our Flag, Wrap Yourself in It First /No Oil for Pacifists)
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To: blam
robbers using guns, knives and CS spray.

I confess my ignorance. What's CS spray?

6 posted on 07/17/2007 8:16:18 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Remember and pray for SSgt. Matt Maupin - MIA/POW- Iraq since 04/09/04)
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To: Graybeard58

Cayenne Solution (AKA “tear gas”).


7 posted on 07/17/2007 8:20:08 PM PDT by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: blam

Seems to me that Suresh established himself as an easy mark


8 posted on 07/17/2007 8:20:15 PM PDT by mylife (The Roar Of The Masses Could Be Farts)
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To: mylife
Seems to me that Suresh established himself as an easy mark

Seems to me the anti-self-defense government established Suresh as an easy mark.

9 posted on 07/17/2007 8:29:49 PM PDT by Egon ("If all your friends were named Cliff, would you jump off them??" - Hugh Neutron)
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To: blam

I am sure that once Sharia law is instituted by the Muslies when they take over in 10 years and they start chopping off hands limbs and heads for all offenses the place will be so much better./s


10 posted on 07/17/2007 8:39:24 PM PDT by Cacique (quos Deus vult perdere, prius dementat ( Islamia Delenda Est ))
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To: blam

This poor guy needs one of those “GUN FREE ZONE” signs.


11 posted on 07/17/2007 8:42:18 PM PDT by G Larry (Only strict constructionists on the Supreme Court!)
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To: Cacique

Many in Britain will probably think Sharia law is the only way to stop the crime epidemic 10 years from now.


12 posted on 07/17/2007 8:46:30 PM PDT by ran20
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To: MelonFarmerJ
This is the result of Total Gun Control (only of legitimate gun owners, of course). Blowing some worthless lowlife armed robber away can have a salutary effect on the rest of the neighborhood scum, but there’s not a chance of that happening in Britain. In fact, I don’t think you can even defend yourself with a knife or a bat in your own home or business....what a shame, that the birthplace of individual freedom has so stripped its law-abiding citizens of the fundamental right of self-protection.....
I don't think this is necessarily true. I think this case is more of a failure of community policing. Something like the Japanese "koban" system would go a long way towards deterring this sort of crime.
13 posted on 07/17/2007 9:19:45 PM PDT by ketsu
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To: ketsu

Not quite. Japanese society is still far more orderly
and law abiding than the UK’s.

When Japan starts letting in the dregs of the earth
maybe things there will change.

Besides which, in Japan, one can still be hanged for murder.


14 posted on 07/17/2007 9:30:29 PM PDT by rahbert
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To: blam
Clearly this shop needs to create a gun-free zone.
15 posted on 07/18/2007 5:08:49 AM PDT by Sender (Be subtle! Be subtle! And use your squirrels for every kind of business.)
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