Canadian immigration officials are investigating hundreds of foreign citizens identified by B.C.’s anti-extortion unit, according to new figures released to Global News.
The Canada Border Services Agency said it had launched probes into 296 people who were “brought to our attention by B.C Extortion Task Force partner agencies as persons of interest.”
The latest statistics, which are as of Feb. 4, represent a sharp increase from just a month ago, when the task force said that just over 100 CBSA investigations were underway.
Immigration enforcement officers are reviewing the files for “potential inadmissibility,” meaning the CBSA may try to remove the individuals from Canada for immigration violations.
“As a result of these investigations, 32 people have been issued a removal order, including 10 people who have already been removed from Canada,” the CBSA said in a statement.
Another nine are awaiting hearings at the Immigration and Refugee Board that could result in deportation orders.
The statistics suggest the crackdown against the extortion gangs that have spread fear in Canadian cities with large South Asian populations is turning up an increasing number of foreign nationals who should not be in the country.
Along with Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, B.C. is facing a wave of crimes in which India-based crime groups are demanding large sums of money from victims, most of whom are Canadians of Sikh background.
Those targeted are first threatened over the phone. If they don’t pay up, their homes and businesses are often sprayed with bullets or set on fire. The gangs have also been blamed for killings.
The violence has typically been carried out by locally recruited Indian nationals who entered Canada on student and work permits that have since expired.
Behind the scheme are a handful of criminal organizations, notably the gang of Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been able to operate out of an Indian prison.
The fight against extortion, however, is complicated by the Bishnoi gang’s suspected ties to the Indian government, which Canada is currently courting for a trade deal.
Asked to explain the sudden increase in extortion-related cases, the CBSA did not provide an answer by deadline. The RCMP did not respond to requests for comment.
Last September, Ottawa placed the Bishnoi gang on its list of terrorist entities, blaming it for targeting South Asian community leaders, businesses and cultural figures.
The B.C. government, meanwhile, formed an extortion task force that is led by the RCMP and includes immigration enforcement officers.
“In delivering on its public safety mandate, the CBSA works with law enforcement partners to rid Canada of foreign criminals who have no right to be here,” the task force said in a Jan. 20 update.
B.C. Premier David Eby and Mayor Brenda Locke of Surrey, the city where many of the extortions have occurred, have been seeking more federal support.
Calling extortions a “slow-motion terror attack,” Eby has successfully lobbied for more police officers and helicopters for communities impacted by the crisis.
He has also called for changes to deportations, saying it was “ludicrous” that some extortion suspects had claimed refugee status, likely delaying their removals.
The Bishnoi gang’s extortions and murders for hire are money-making ventures, but the crime group has also acted on behalf of India’s government, according to the RCMP.
Canada believes India has used Lawrence Bishnoi to target Canadians active in the Khalistan separatist movement, which advocates for independence for the Sikh-majority Punjab.
Evidence of the gang’s suspected work for the Indian government came to light following the 2023 murder of Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
His assassination was allegedly carried out by four Indian nationals working for Bishnoi, who was acting at the direction of officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
Arrested in 2024 in Alberta and Ontario, the accused gunmen, their alleged getaway driver and a fourth suspect are awaiting trial in B.C. Neither Bishnoi nor his Canadian lieutenant Goldy Brar have been charged.
As recently as October 2024, national security advisor Nathalie Drouin said “senior levels” of the Indian government worked with the Bishnoi gang to wage violence in Canada.
Testifying at a committee hearing, she said Indian diplomats and proxy agents collected information on Canadians and passed it on to officials in New Delhi.
“This information is shared with senior levels of the Indian government, who then direct the commission of serious criminal activities against Indo-Canadians through the kinetic use of Lawrence Bishnoi’s organized crime network,” she told the public safety committee.
“Bishnoi is currently in jail in India, and he is able to order these actions through his gang, which has extensive criminal networks in India and internationally.
“Serious crimes committed in Canada include homicides, assassination plots, perpetrated extortions and other extreme violence.”
She also accused the Indian government of spreading the “false narrative that Canada showed it no evidence and that we were ignoring its concerns about Khalistani violent extremism.”
Deepening national security ties
Despite India’s alleged links to the gang blamed for fueling the extortion problem, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been deepening national security ties with New Delhi.
On Feb. 6 and 7, India’s national security advisor, Ajit Doval, met in Ottawa and with Drouin and Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree.
The visit came as Carney is pushing to increase Canadian exports to India amid a trade war initiated by the tariff-obsessed White House of U.S. President Donald Trump.
Following Doval’s visit, the Privy Council Office said Canada and India had agreed to exchange security and law enforcement liaison officers.
Doing so will help streamline bilateral communications and enable timely information sharing on issues of mutual concern to Canada and India, the PCO said.
The PCO did not answer questions from Global News about whether India had acknowledged its role in Nijjar’s murder or committed to refraining from further attacks.
Canadian Sikh organizations were outraged Doval was even allowed to enter Canada.
“The recent presence of Ajit Doval in Canada is a grotesque betrayal,” said Moninder Singh, who was among more than a dozen Sikh activists warned by the RCMP that their lives were in danger.
“Doval, the man responsible for decades of human rights atrocities in Punjab, is the primary architect of this transnational repression and violent campaign in Canada,” said Singh, who is the spokesperson for the Sikh Federation Canada.
He said India’s strategy was to “use criminal proxies to extort and terrorize the Sikh diaspora, then offer ‘security co-operation’ as a Trojan horse to further infiltrate our institutions.”
Anandasangaree defended his government’s push to strengthen ties with India’s national security agencies.
“It’s important that we have constructive dialogue around safety and security,” the minister said when asked about his meeting with Doval.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada said it was disappointed the government had hosted Doval.
“Mr. Doval is widely regarded as the architect of India’s foreign espionage and transnational repression operations,” the organization said.
The government’s official read-out of the meeting, however, made no reference to India’s involvement in its attacks on Canadians, the WSO said.
“We have been clear that any so-called re-engagement with India must be grounded in accountability,” spokesperson Balpreet Singh said.
“Instead, Mr. Doval’s visit to Canada once again signals that the government is prepared to ignore ongoing criminal activity, extortion, and intimidation in Canada that have roots in India and links to the Government of India.
“This isn’t diplomacy, it is appeasement.”
Plot to kill another Canadian
India has also been accused of trying to kill another Canadian, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a New York-based pro-Khalistan activist.
Authorities believe the plots were part of the Modi government’s attempt to assassinate prominent members of the Khalistan movement in the West.
At the time of the plots, both Nijjar and Pannun were organizing a symbolic referendum to gauge support for Khalistan. Neither faced any charges in Canada or the U.S.
On Friday, Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in the U.S. to his role in the conspiracy to kill Pannun. The FBI alleges an Indian intelligence official set the failed plot into motion.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
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