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Manhattan stores near site of attack targeted by looters

Looting took place in the abandoned and damaged stores beneath the World Trade Center in the wake of the attacks, it has emerged.

Stories of theft from the site have been circulating for the last week but there has been a reluctance to publicize them while rescue workers were working round the clock and risking their lives in the rubble.

Two men, one a former prison officer, have been arrested and charged with stealing watches worth US$3,800 from Tourneau watch shop under the World Trade Center.

Looting appears to have started on the night of the attack after the first fires had been doused. Thieves took watches from Tourneau and dozens of pairs of designer sunglasses from a neighboring shop, Sunglass Hut International. Cash registers were also targeted.

The thefts have been identified by a unit of the New York National Guard which is assisting with security at the site. They said that some of the thefts had been carried out with what appeared to be professional efficiency.

"It was calculated," Second Lieutenant Peter Fluker of the National Guard told the <>. "It was done with crowbars and heavy equipment and some blunt objects that were used to smash open big doors and jewellery cases. They were rescue workers of some sort."

Because the vast majority of rescue workers were selflessly trying to save lives and working long hours in difficult conditions, the police had been reluctant to draw attention to the thefts. Crime in New York has gone down substantially since the attacks, according to police commissioner Bernard Kerik.

He said that in the first week after Sept. 11, crime in the city was down by 34 percent. In the Manhattan area, crime was down by 59 percent.

Mayor Rudy Giuliani has warned New Yorkers that a number of criminals are using the tragedy to try to get money by pretending to be a charity. He said if anyone telephoned to solicit donations people should take their details and report them to the police.

Three underground fires continued to burn in the ruins of the World Trade Center site on Thursday night, but rescuers were still sifting through the rubble searching for survivors.

Giuliani said the chances of anyone being discovered alive were highly remote. "Right now the chance of recovering anyone alive is very, very small. The experts say that there is still more time but the experts have not dealt with a site like this before. If a miracle occurs and we can find someone, we'll do that."

The number believed to have died in the attacks has risen dramatically in the past two days. While earlier estimates indicated that around 5,000 were likely to have perished, the official total of all those who have died, including at the Pentagon and in the four crashed airliners, is now 6,965.
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