Burglars who hit over a dozen Bellevue homes now believed to be targeting Bellingham business owners

An alert to Asian business owners: Surveillance video shows a gang of burglars targeting them at their personal homes.

KIRO 7 first reported last month that gang of thieves had been breaking into homes along trails all along the Interstate 5 corridor, particularly on the Eastside. Now we are learning the burglars are expanding their reach, targeting mostly Asian residents, from Kent to Bellingham.

This has police departments alarmed -- so much so, that Bellingham police are deploying just about every tool in their repertoire to locate these residents and alert them.

Victims have at least two things in common: they are Asian business owners and they live near trails.

The owner of Wanida Thai Cuisine is grateful he managed to survive the worldwide pandemic that forced his and other restaurants to close for a time. But now there’s a new worry.

Asian owners of restaurants and nail salons in Bellingham are being targeted by burglars at their homes. That includes restaurant owner Alex Teachaakarakasem, who said that he found out about this trend for the first time in an email from Bellingham police.

His reaction?

“Seem unsecure now,” he remarked to KIRO 7.

Bellingham police believe the burglars caught on surveillance video some 95 miles away in Sammamish are responsible for several break-ins here, too. Indeed, they are prime suspects in similar burglaries all along the I-5 corridor from Kent, north.

Lt. Claudia Murphy, head of special operations for Bellingham police, concedes they don’t know how the crooks are finding the business owners’ private residences.

“If we knew that, we would have caught them by now,” said Lt. Murphy. “So, that is part of the investigation that has to occur to determine what it is they’re doing and how they’re going about doing it. My assumption is they do their research.”

According to the email being sent to business owners, the burglars are targeting money and precious jewels, especially at homes near trails mostly in the Barkley and Fruitland Drive neighborhoods.

These burglaries are happening mostly between 5 and 9 p.m., when many of these business owners are still at work. So, police are recommending they install timers so that lights come on even when they are not at home.

Bellevue police told KIRO 7 Tuesday they have stepped up patrols in the Lakemont neighborhood where these burglaries were happening on the Eastside. Since then, the burglaries in that area have stopped, at least for now.

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