In 2011, Christopher Coen writing at Friends of Refugees rightly criticized refugee advocates for using refugees to supposedly replenish and rebuild dying US cities.  Coen says it hurts the refugees to be used in that way—to be dropped off in slum neighborhoods.  I agree.   Here is my post on the same topic (you should take a minute and read it before proceeding here).

Buffalo, NY is the city cited by Coen and more recently I told you that Buffalo is losing its Christian and Jewish population, here.   Also, be sure to type ‘Buffalo’ into our search function for a wide assortment of cultural clash/crime problems with Buffalo’s immigrant population.

And, as I reported the other day in a food stamp fraud post, where immigrants congregate in large numbers, scammers follow.

 Operation Secret Shopper to the rescue!

Now, thanks to reader ‘alwaysright’ comes this Buffalo ‘Deli-store sting story.’  It is a new (to me!) scam involving ‘mom and pop’ delis (convenience stores) in a city that is increasingly populated with Muslim immigrants.

Here is how it works:

The petty thieves went out with shopping lists to steal for deli owners who offered to buy the stolen goods – everything from condoms to baby formula.

One deli owner’s shopping list included “25 tubes of toothpaste.” Another deli owner needed men’s shavers, and yet another needed to replenish his supply of energy drinks.

The crooks then shoplifted from the big guys: Tops, Wegmans, Target.

The thieves returned to the delis and sold the goods to the owners – at cut-rate prices – who then resold the items at big profits.

Meanwhile, residents near the small stores complained that many of the city’s corner delis were magnets for gang members, whose fighting, partying and drug dealing made life unbearable.

When police heard these complaints, several agencies got together and pulled off a sting dubbed “Operation Secret Shopper.” The operation has resulted in the closing of 20 corner delis, though some have reopened under court orders while charges are pending; the arrest of 15 store owners and their workers; and the confiscation of synthetic marijuana, several guns, fake New Era baseball caps, bootlegged DVDs and untaxed cigarettes.

Be sure to read all about how the cops nailed the crooks (it is kind of long, but fun reading).  And then work your way to the end to see the politically-incorrect names of the arrested (helpfully highlighted by me).

In addition to State Police, agencies that assisted in Operation Secret Shopper include the Erie Crime Analysis Center; the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; the U.S. Department of Homeland Security; the Cheektowaga Police Department; the Erie County District Attorney’s Office; and the State Liquor Authority.

South District Community Policing Officer Anthony LeBron was given special recognition for his efforts in setting up the stings.

Individuals arrested on charges of possession of stolen property are: Abdilkarim Ali, 48, Nadeems Grocery Deli, 2082 S. Park Ave.; Adel Alkaldi, 25, Cazenovia Mini Mart, 2330 Seneca St.; Samir M. Khoury, 49, Ricotta’s Food Market, 206 Elk St.; Dennis Mack [shock! American name]32, and Abdul Kassem, 45, Seneca Deli, 1199 Seneca St.; Hamza Abdo, 55, Garang International Market, 325 Seneca St.; Bilal Mohamed, 24, and Jamil Nagi, 25, Broadway Mart, 1069 Broadway.

Also, Naji Alabbadi, 22, Charlies Food Market, 927 Broadway; Muafaq Majid, 28, Luckys, 729 Sycamore St.; Zaid Alhariri, 43, Super Market Express, 143 Walden Ave.; Moshin Almadrahi, 52, the Quick Stop, 1148 East Ferry St.; Omar Abdulrazak, 35, Mega-Mart, 778 Tonawanda St.; Ali Nasser, 23, M&N Mini Mart, 2360 Bailey Ave.; and Hamos Mohamed, 35, Langfield Food-Meat Market, 313 Edison St.

Haven’t you wondered why Americans aren’t opening ‘mom and pop’ stores—because they aren’t lucrative unless one gets special micro-loans tailored for immigrants and have a well-developed scammers imagination.

So this is how we are rebuilding dying cities?

Update December 15th:  Karem Almadrahi, 35 (LOL!  any relation to Moshin above?) was busted for food stamp fraud in a different Buffalo deli, here.