Sydney, August 11: Indian students in Australia were more likely to be victims of robbery but these crimes were opportunistic but not racially motivated, says a report.
The Australian Institute of Criminology analysed the assaults, robbery and theft committed against international students from 2005 to 2009 after media attention suggested that Indian students were being targeted.
The institute looked at 15,000 reports of crimes against students from India, China, South Korea, the US and Malaysia – the five largest groups of student visa holders, the Australian Associated Press (AAP) reported.
Director Adam Tomison said: “There was nothing in the overall findings that lends support to the view that Indian students have been singled out primarily for racial reasons.”
The report suggested the high rates of robbery against Indians could probably be because they were more likely to work in jobs, paticularly late at night.
A quarter of robberies against Indian students happened at retail locations and almost two in three happened at petrol stations.
