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With a spike in mugging incidents at popular tourist destinations, travel experts have a word of advice for travellers: DO NOT wear expensive watches, jewellery, designer clothes, shoes, branded handbags while travelling abroad. There has been a string of snatch-and-run crimes across tourist hotspots in London, Paris, Brazil, Barcelona, Rome, Canada and the US.(Un)Safe Travels Recently, a 46-year-old man from New Jersey was robbed at gunpoint by three masked men for his Cartier Santos watch near Hudson Yards. “My cousin was wearing a diamond-studded watch. Only she was targeted in Rio de Janeiro. The thug grabbed her diamond watch, bag and fled on a bike. We were all there, but could not help as he was armed with a knife,” says a woman business entrepreneur from Hyderabad. In another incident, a woman was mugged by a man in the Washington Square Mall parking lot for her special edition Air Jordan sneakers. Last month, Malaysian businessman Vinod Sekhar was mugged in London by two thugs for his watch while he was parking his car. Sekhar narrated his ordeal on FB saying: “They rushed at me, smothered me, hit me a few times on the chest and thighs, and tore the watch off my wrist. I tried to hold on but couldn’t — my post-transplant medication and health simply didn’t allow it.” However, Sekhar's wife, Winy Yeap, fought like a lioness and came to his rescue. Recently, a 46-year-old man from New Jersey was robbed at gunpoint by three masked men for his Cartier Santos watch near Hudson Yards. “My cousin was wearing a diamond-studded watch. Only she was targeted in Rio de Janeiro. The thug grabbed her diamond watch, bag and fled on a bike. We were all there, but could not help as he was armed with a knife,” says a woman business entrepreneur from Hyderabad. In another incident, a woman was mugged by a man in the Washington Square Mall parking lot for her special edition Air Jordan sneakers. Last month, Malaysian businessman Vinod Sekhar was mugged in London by two thugs for his watch while he was parking his car. Sekhar narrated his ordeal on FB saying: “They rushed at me, smothered me, hit me a few times on the chest and thighs, and tore the watch off my wrist. I tried to hold on but couldn’t — my post-transplant medication and health simply didn’t allow it.” However, Sekhar's wife, Winy Yeap, fought like a lioness and came to his rescue. showing knife-wielding bike-borne muggers attacking tour-ists and then snatching their possessions. Some of these violent mugging crimes are not in dark and desolate alleys, but in broad daylight at crowded areas and transport hubs. Expert Speak Police advise visitors to keep valuables hidden. While insurers now sometimes exclude luxury watches, handbags or jewellery from coverage unless stored in hotel safes. For many Indian travellers, these developments have reshaped what foreign travel looks like. “The first instruction I give to Indian tourists is to avoid carrying expensive jewellery, watches, and designer bags while travelling abroad,” says Sheetal Dev, a Pune-based international travel consultant who has organised tours for 15 years. “I make sure that each person in the group has comprehensive travel insurance. I tell them to be extra careful with their passport and wallets. The best practice is to keep it in the hotel safe.” The consequences of theft abroad go beyond lost possessions. A disrupted itinerary, emergency consular visits, and the need to replace passports or cards can extend a trip and inflate costs. “Getting mugged is the last thing you want in a foreign country,” Dev explains. “Everybody gets rattled. It is a cumbersome process to connect with the police, the bank, and the Indian consulate if your passport is lost. You may have to reapply for a visa, your stay increases, and so do your expenses.” Harrowing Experience For travellers like Sonia Gambhir, these experiences are deeply personal. During a shopping trip in London, her bag was taken from under a jacket while she tried on shoes. “My entire pouch, which had around £400, was gone,” she recalls. “Thankfully, my phone was in another pocket. I asked for CCTV footage, but it was deleted. Nothing could be retrieved, and the case was closed. Nobody from the shop really helped; it seemed no one wanted to help.” The horror wasn’t just the theft but the realisation that she had no one to turn to, no familiar number to call, no sympathetic face in the crowd. “People say don’t wear designer clothes, don’t carry expensive bags — but it’s also like telling women not to dress up to avoid rape,” she opines. It puts the onus on the victim instead of on the person committing the crime. Safety Map Awareness and preparation are part of the new travel lexicon. Gulshen Banno, a London-based Krav Maga instructor and founder of Strike That, recounts a Paris Metro incident in which a man attempted to steal her passport and credit cards. Her training allowed her to act quickly: she retrieved her documents and...
