Prague .... City of Theives and Robbers

Discussion in 'Expat Life' started by faisalsb, Nov 30, 2007.

  1. faisalsb

    faisalsb Member

    Some time back when I was in the process to make a decision to move to Czech Republic to work with IBM, I looked in to many message boards and tried to make online friends to know about the country since it was kind a unknown country for me. During that process I read a message which had almost the same title like the title of this post but I ignored it. Because crimes are there in all parts of the world and such isolated incidents can happen anywhere. But I never knew that I was also going to be victim of one of such ISOLATED incident.

    It was nice morning of 6 October 2007 when I was travelling to Prague from Brno in Eurolines bus, I reached Prague Florence bus stand around 14:10. I took my luggage and started looking for platform number 24 from which I had to board on a bus for Prague airport. I didn't have much difficulty to find the platform no. 24, I put my luggage on side of a bench over there and started waiting for the bus. I was happy since after being away for 3 months from my family I was going to see them. There was nice wind blowing although the weather was a bit cold but I was enjoying it. I was sitting there for last around 10 minutes that a white man approached me. He was asking me, "Where can I get a bus for Prague airport". I stood up from the bench walked towards him since he was reading schedule of the buses few yard away. I told him he can get the bus from the same platform but he has to wait more than an hour. He asked again, "Where can I buy the ticket". I showed him the direction where I thought were offices of the bus services. Then he went away and when I looked back to my luggage my breifcase was not there. I got panic looked here and there but neither I could find my breifcase nor the person.

    I called the police they were not speaking english so they gave me another number to call, I called that number and told them the whole story. The police arrived after around 15 minutes. The first question what police asked me was what is the value of your luggage which is stolen. I told them it's not about cost of my luggauge but it had all my educational certificates from high school till the university, all my experience certificates from all my previous employers and many other important documents. The second question was, "Can you come with us to the police station?" Although I had short time to catch my flight but I knew I could never be able to get duplicates of the certificates if I don't have any report from the police. So I said, "Yes".

    They took me to a old building and asked for my passport I gave them my passport and they asked me to wait. After waiting for around half an hour I went to them and told them that I have to catch my flight and they have to complete their process quickly. They said if you want to report that your luggage is lost then we can register the complaint in few minutes but if you want to report you luggage as stolen then we need translator. I asked them, "Why do you need translator when you are speaking english?". He said, "My english is not good enough to register a report for stolen things since it has many detials and today is saturday so I am not sure either we will be able to get any translator". Being a Pakistani I was not surprised for such conversation but I was certianly not expecting such an answer from a EUROPEAN police. Fortunately I was able to find a Pakistani who is legal translator and he was nearby the police station. The inspector on duty even tried to convince him that I should report that my lugguage is lost otherwise I might miss my flight. I said don't worry about my flight and register the report. So eventually I was able to register my complaint.

    Today when I was discussing the incident with one friend of mine from IBM he told me within IBM there are atleast 7 people who had same kind of experiences in Prague within last one month. He mentioned even in one case an Indian was robbed on gun point and the police asked him to REPORT THE INCIDENT AS LOST, he had to contact Indian embassy and on embassy's request they registered the report.

    I am just wondering if these are the statistics only from IBM then over all how many incidents might be happening daily over there? I really don't know how much money Czech Police is getting to report such incidents as lost lugguage but even if they are not partner in this business then what are they doing? So far there is no clue about my breifcase and if I call them with help of any Czech friend since they don't speak english then they say they have found nothing and they will contact me when they find anything.

    I am just curious how many other foreigners have gone through the same experiences?

    Note: If Mr. Thief is reading this post then please mail my documents to following mentioned address since they are of no use for you but it's my whole career:

    Faisal Siddique, Cajkovskeho 1773/16, Brno 61600
     
  2. Hello Faisal :) I am so sorry to hear of this traumatic event for you in Prague :( ! My husband and I live (part-time) in Brno each year and in 2006, during a trip to Prague, although he is a Czech National, he was targeted by a professional gang and pick-pocketed whilst on one of the trams which run by the river and city centre. We rushed to the police station as they had taken the whole wallet with ID cards, credit cards etc. Over an hour at the station and apart from a report taken and the copy given to us, they told us that there was literally no way that the offenders would be caught with the wallet and/or cards. That was the last we heard from them.
    Because IBM are aware of many of their staff becoming victims of such undesirable and professional criminals, surely they should alert all their employees throughout Czech of what is happening??? The company should be providing some type of timely warning through emails etc, and provide support and suggestions for their staff in order that the number of further victims of these notorious criminal gangs reaches zero. IBM have a duty of care to provide some help to their employees in this matter! Good luck in the future and enjoy the rest of your stay in Brno - we are not there at the moment because we love the summer here in Australia more. Kind regards from Deb and Richard
     
  3. faisalsb

    faisalsb Member

    Hi Deb and Richard, well first of all thanks for the sympathy what you have shown for me, otherwise whoever I discussed this problem with his/her immediate reply was, "YOU yourself have to take care of your lugguage". In my opinion Brno is a better place in Czech republic to live since I have not heard of any such incident over here. I am not saying it's crime free, some people do complain that if they have to visit center during late night then they get across some drunk rude people but at least I have not heard anything that he was robbed on gun point. Well IBM office in Brno is one of the newly established office and they need to improve in many ways. But at least we have internal message board like this public board and it's good way of communication. I wish you to enjoy your stay at Australia but I think it's rare view to see Brno covered with snow and when you have view from top it seems someone has white washed the whole city. It maybe more attractive for me since I am watching it live first time in my life and I know many Czech who love this view too.
     
  4. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    Getting robbed at gunpoint is extremely rare in Prague. It's much more likely to get robbed at gunpoint in the U.S. Getting pick-pocketed, or otherwise scammed/robbed (in a "non-violent" way) is, however, rather common. :x
     
  5. Hi Sova, I totally agree with you :). Also, I forgot to mention to Faisal that my husband felt that the pickpocket gang working the trams when he was targeted in 2006 were of Bulgarian nationality! In most countries world-wide, train stations are notorious for opportunistic crimes. In Australia we have rail security guards 24/7 who must remain highly visible as well as having the usual police patrols at most stations. But, it still doesnt stop some attacks/crimes from happening :( .
     
  6. EHSAN

    EHSAN Member

    aoa
    sorry to read abut the incidence occured with u. my name is ehsan i m also from pakistan . i got admission in masters in textile engineering and moving to liberic in next few months . brother i need ur guidence . hope u will contact me on my hotmail id txt_eng@hotmail.com
     
  7. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    Hi Eshan,

    hope you have a better experience. Working in an airport, I can tell you rule number one is never take your eyes off your luggage (here in the US, it can be considered abandoned, a security risk, and confiscated).

    One other tip - unscrupulous people "harvest" boards like these for e-mail addresses. Better to list yours as txt_eng(at)hotmail(dot)com to avoid Spam.

    Good luck with your studies! I had a few courses in textile engineering at Georgia Tech many years ago - interesting stuff but, I can't begin to imagine how much it has changed since then (back in the Dark-Ages) :wink:
     
  8. CiervoPRG

    CiervoPRG Member

    -So it may be safe to say that hacking the auto logins to replace old threads worked!..Anyone who joins an online social networking forum and persistently replaces their ability to write responses, with an obsession to write repeated editorial critiques and grammar evaluations is a lifeless fool.

    [​IMG]
    -Read, absorb, learn, associate, activate, react, write a response, don't prowl the forums wasting every hour of your life correcting others who are not writing a thesis but rather cramming their time online with many posts as they possibly can, requesting information, and juggling slim schedules with every hope of gaining useful information, regarding the Czech Republic, which is not yours if you live in a computer all day.
     
  9. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    Ouch! CiervoPRG, just out of curiosity, do you know if there are any laws or regulations (that you are aware of) in the Czech Republic about carrying or using tasers?
     
  10. CiervoPRG

    CiervoPRG Member

    Yes, there are laws regarding them, as for the use of them on thieves, it is okay as long as you get away with support from witnesses, or before the policie arrive. Any I have recently that youshouldn't tip toe through life, wear boots and stomp, your safer that way,

    Carry on,..
    cau
     
  11. CiervoPRG

    CiervoPRG Member

    -So it may be safe to say that hacking the auto logins to replace old threads worked!..Anyone who joins an online social networking forum and persistently replaces their ability to write responses, with an obsession to write repeated editorial critiques and grammar evaluations is a lifeless fool.

    [​IMG]
    -Read, absorb, learn, associate, activate, react, write a response, don't prowl the forums wasting every hour of your life correcting others who are not writing a thesis but rather cramming their time online with many posts as they possibly can, requesting information, and juggling slim schedules with every hope of gaining useful information, regarding the Czech Republic, which is not yours if you live in a computer all day.[/img]
     
  12. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    That's for the higher-ups to decide. I'm just a humble moderator. Thanks for the info.
     
  13. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    I don't know which offends me most - the description or the spelling mistake.
     
  14. CiervoPRG

    CiervoPRG Member

    Zdar,
    It is quite confusing, the traumatic scenario could have been prevented by a little research into the destination, and it's statistics. I did. I'm safe,.. maybe not always, but after all sometimes "Hit Shappens". :roll:
     
  15. Dana

    Dana Well-Known Member

    I think if anyone should rename the thread, it should be the original poster if he considers it appropriate. I don't think the site admins are here to censor topic titles just because they express an opinion that others don't agree with. Faisal apparently thinks of Prague as a city of thieves and robbers based on his bad experience. I don't feel the site admins have a reason to interfere here. Censoring posts and topic titles that are vulgar, racist, discriminatory or offensive with respect to a specific person or a group of people would be a different story.

    All board members are welcome to express their feelings and disagreement with another poster's comments. All posters have the ability to edit their topic titles and posts by logging in, finding the post they would like to edit, and clicking on the "edit" button that appears on the top right of their posts.

    Judging from Faisal's post where the word is spelled correctly, the mistake in the title is a simple typo - not the first and probably not the last on these boards. :)
     
  16. GlennInFlorida

    GlennInFlorida Well-Known Member

    I'll secnod that :wink:
     
  17. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    That's my opinion, too. I thought the site policy would be just that, but I didn't presume to speak for you. Thanks for making it clear.
     
  18. Sova

    Sova Well-Known Member

    Thnaks for the laugh, Glenn. :lol: :lol:
     
  19. Polednikova

    Polednikova Well-Known Member

    Sorry, I knew it would be a typo but I remember Glenn explaining very patiently to a poster who used 'text-speak' that it wasn't a good idea because people who have English as their second language may have difficulty understanding and I have since then tried to avoid words that might not be universally used - other than for a little local colour from time to time!

    I didn't know whether everyone would know the word 'typo' or whether I knew it because I did a lot of text editing in my job.
     
  20. Ark1tec

    Ark1tec Well-Known Member

    I personally would not mind being edited as forums are like conversations where what you remember is whats important and if only my faults could be edited permanently by a higher power life would be so much easier don't you think.
     

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