B.C. Premier calls on Ottawa to label India's Bishnoi gang as terrorists
British Columbia Premier David Eby is calling on Ottawa to label a notorious Indian gang as a terrorist organization, in a bid to help police tackle extortion cases targeting South Asian businesses.
B.C. is singling out the Bishnoi group amid a wave of extortion threats that has rattled Sikh people across Canada.
'There are allegations that gangs in India are operating here in our province, and in other provinces, to intimidate and extort business owners,' Mr. Eby told reporters in Victoria on Tuesday.
'I will be writing to the Prime Minister to ask that one of the gangs that is self-identified as being involved in some of these activities, the Lawrence Bishnoi group, be listed as a terrorist organization in Canada,' he said.
Who is Lawrence Bishnoi, the man at centre of row between India and Canada?
Mr. Eby's intervention is in response community pressure in Surrey. Last Friday, the Surrey Police Service announced it has established an Extortion Investigations Team after receiving ten reports of extortion just in the past six months.
Surrey police say the reports involve individuals or businesses from the South Asian community who are contacted through a letter, phone calls or social media. They face demands for money made under threats of violence.
'We discourage anyone from responding to such demands. Officers are working to prevent these traumatizing situations and to holding those responsible to account,' Chief Superintendent Wendy Mehat, an RCMP liaison for Surrey, said in a statement.
On Sunday, B.C.'s Public Safety Minister Garry Begg attended a crowded public safety forum in Surrey where business owners said they are facing threats demanding millions of dollars.
'We don't make this recommendation lightly, but this activity strikes at public confidence in the justice system, in our democracy and in their safety and community, and it erodes public confidence in the rule of law. It is a very serious matter. It's a huge concern for the people of Surrey,' Mr. Eby told reporters.
Police forces in at least six cities across Canada are investigating extortion cases targeting the South Asian community and in particular people of Indian origin.
In December 2023, police in Abbotsford, B.C., said they were investigating extortions involving affluent members of the South Asian community. They said suspects were believed to have ties to the Bishnoi gang.
India's top investigative body, the National Investigation Agency, says Lawrence Bishnoi is running a transnational crime syndicate from an Indian jail cell.
The Bishnoi gang has also been identified by the RCMP as playing a possible role in violent crimes on Canadian soil that have led to diplomatic tensions between Canada and India.
Last year, the federal government expelled six Indian diplomats after the RCMP said it had credible evidence Indian agents played a role in crimes, including the killings of Canadian citizens and extortion.
'What we've seen, from an RCMP perspective, is the use of organized crime elements and it's been publicly attributed and claimed by one organized crime group in particular, which is the Bishnoi group,' the RCMP said at the time.
Mr. Eby said there is a federal co-ordinating task force working on the extortion cases across the three provinces affected, but he said they need additional tools to reach beyond the Canadian border in dealing with transnational organized crime.
'This is more in the nature of terrorism than it is traditional crime. The community is terrified and I'm hopeful that by asking the Prime Minister to take this step, that he lists this organization and any others involved, and give police additional tools to advance their work on the ground.'
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