Pointing the spurt in cases of armed robberies targeting diamond merchants, the delegation said they were feeling insecure and urged the commissioner to accord top priority to their safety.

Commissioner Maniram, while stating that the police were keeping around-the-clock vigil in sensitive areas, assured that he would do the needful to make traders feel safe.

There have been at least 25 attacks and loot cases, many of them committed during the day, in the past four months.

Specifically pointing out three cases in the past one week where diamond merchants of the city were relieved of valuables and cash worth lakhs of rupees, the members said robberies were being committed at will, and the only instance when the gangsters were nabbed was the Mahidharpura case a fortnight ago. Two gangsters were caught, one of them battered to death and the other seriously injured, in the foiled loot case.

On Saturday, a diamond merchant Suresh Sutaria was kidnapped from the Mini Bazaar area of Varachha and looted of diamonds worth Rs 2.55 lakhs and Rs 40,000 cash at knife point.

Earlier last week, armed robbers looted Rs 25,000 from one Jayantibhai, a diamond worker, in Varachha Road area. On August 24, a watchman working in a diamond workshop at Umiya Mata Mandir on A K Road was attacked, though nothing was looted from the workshop. The delegation has also claimed that not only diamond merchants, even cloth owners and the common people were being targeted by criminals. The delegation included Nanu Vanani, Dhanji Dhaduk and Jivraj Surani of the Surat Diamond Association and Chandrakant Sanghvi of the Gem and Jewellery Council, among others.

Meanwhile, the police have stepped by night patrolling and vigil in the Mahidharpura, Varachha and Katargam areas, where maximum number of workshops are located. The police chief assured the delegation that the matter would be taken up with urgency.