Is This One Of The First Climate Change Inspired Crime Wave?

Drought in India, possibly caused by climate change,
is inspiring new crimes by bandits.  

Last month, in drought-stricken northern India, bandits threatened to kill hundreds of villagers unless they delivered 35 buckets of water a day to them, according to the Associated Press.    

This might be among the first cases of criminals taking advantage of climate change to conduct their misdeeds.

Yes, yes, I know some activists would say some oil companies, frackers, climate change denialists and the like are criminals, but I'm not going to go there. That's a discussion for another day.

But with weather patterns changing, likely at least in part due to global warming, the monsoon in northern India isn't working as well as it should. It's way too dry up there.

Bandits lurk in hard to reach, remote places in northern India, and the criminals take advantage of their hiding places to terrorize and torture these villagers.

According to the July 21 Associated Press article:

"Since the threats were delivered last week, 28 villages have been obeying the oerder, taking turns handing over what the bandits are calling a daily 'water tax' police said.

'Water itself is very scarce in the region. Villagers can hardly meet their demand,' officer Suresh Kumar Singh said by telephone from Banda, a city on the southern border of central Uttar Pradesh state and caught within what is known in India as bandit country"

Police do see an opportunity in the drought, too. If the bandits don't get enough water from the villagers, or the supply line between villagers and the bandits are exposed, they might have to venture out to more exposed areas, where they could be caught, according to the AP article.