Police fear that mobsters from Romania are robbing religious institutions in broad daylight while they are on the loose. According to authorities, they targeted two Buddhist temples, two mosques, and one Hindu temple in the Washington, D.C., region in April and May.
According to news , Montgomery (Maryland) County Police believe that the Romanian Organized Crime Group, often known as the ROMAs, targeted seven locations akin to this in 2023. They claim to have made arrests in around half of the cases.
No further houses of worship or homes associated to temples or churches have been targeted in the burglaries since gang members Alex Dumitru, 23, and Natalian Dumitru, 18, were taken into custody in connection with two of the burglaries last month, Montgomery County Police Lieutenant Andrew Suh told News .
However, Suh claimed that the global organization, which is active throughout the country, has been active in the D.C. region for about ten years and throughout his tenure at the department, and that trying to stop it would be equivalent to “cutting the heads of a hydra.”
