Nepalese residents say they “fear for their lives” due to a surge in burglaries.

Bed Bhattarai, the general secretary of the Dartford Nepalese Community (DNC) group, told police officers at a borough council meeting how crime is leaving his community feeling unsafe.

He said: “The incidents of burglary, theft and insecurity in and around the town has been putting many people in the condition of fear and devastation.

“We are worried about the escalation of those activities every year.

“There has been two burglaries this year already.”

The group has reported around eight incidents in the town over the past four years, including a large burglary this year near Princes Road.

Mr Bhattarai said: “DNC appreciates the activities done by police.

“DNC would like to request local authorities and local police to take extra measures to control the crime in the town.

“DNC believes that we can minimize these heinous activities with the help of neighbourhood watch team.”

Nepalese people have settled in the UK with their families after serving in the British army.

There are more than 100 families of Nepalese origin who have made Dartford their home town.

These former soldiers have been able to move to the country since 2004 if they retired after 1997. This right was later expanded to all Nepalese veterans following a prominent campaign with actress Joanna Lumley.

Mr Bhattarai, who is a lecturer of building services engineering at South Essex College, added: “The majority of the population are here for the quality education for their children.

“Nepalaese people, known as Gurkhas, are friendly, innocent and have shown their bravery in both world wars. They are working towards peace and harmony in the society, willing to work with the local authority and the local police to maintain the British values and British culture.”

Temporary Chief Inspector for Dartford and Gravesham, Neil Loudon, said: “When it comes to burglary, it’s an abhorrent crime and as a force we take it incredibly seriously. It is recognised the impact that type of crime has on the individual and the family and community as a whole, is completely terrible.

“This forms part of our Kent Controls strategy to make sure all of our staff are focused towards tackling burglary.

“We have currently got an operation running where we are targetting burglaries because we have seen a slight increase.

“That operation has been in place for about three and a half or four weeks, as a result of that we have made a significant amount of arrests of known burglars that are causing harm to our community.”