Violent S. American Jewel Thieves May Be Hitting Smaller U.S. Cities

Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, August 11, 2008; Page A05 The FBI is investigating whether a violent, well-organized ring of South American jewelry thieves is expanding its operations away from large metropolitan areas such as New York, Miami, Houston and Chicago and hitting targets in smaller cities in the South. In one incident in Little Rock, diamond merchant Faramarz Hakimian, 48, of New York had just pulled into the parking lot of an upscale strip mall July 29 when two masked men jumped out of a black Chevrolet behind him, smashed his car windows, pulled a gun and told him to lie down on the seat. The assailants took his keys and stole a satchel with half a million dollars' worth of jewelry from the car's back seat, all in broad daylight in front of witnesses at the jewelry shop that Hakimian had come to visit.... [read full story]