Canadian immigration officials are investigating hundreds of foreign nationals identified by British Columbia’s anti-extortion unit, according to new figures published by Global News.
The Canada Border Services Agency said it had launched investigations into 296 people who were “brought to our attention by British Columbia Racketeering Task Force associated agencies as persons of interest.”
The latest statistics, which are from February 4, represent a sharp increase since just a month ago, when the task force said just over 100 CBSA investigations were underway.
Immigration agents are reviewing files for “potential inadmissibility,” meaning the CBSA may attempt to remove people from Canada for immigration violations.
“As a result of these investigations, a removal order has been issued to 32 individuals, including 10 individuals who have already been removed from Canada,” the CBSA said in a statement.
Nine others are awaiting hearings at the Immigration and Refugee Board that could result in deportation orders.
Statistics suggest that the crackdown on extortion gangs that have spread fear in Canadian cities with large South Asian populations is generating increasing numbers of foreign nationals who should not be in the country.
Along with Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, British Columbia is facing a crime wave in which India-based criminal groups are demanding large sums of money from victims, most of whom are Canadians of Sikh origin.
The targets are first threatened by telephone. If they don’t pay, their homes and businesses are often left sprayed with bullets or set it on fire. Gangs have also been blamed for murders.
The violence has typically been carried out by locally recruited Indian citizens who entered Canada on expired student and work permits.
Behind the plan are a handful of criminal organizations, notably Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang, which has been able to operate from an Indian prison.
The fight against extortion, however, is complicated by the Bishnoi gang’s alleged ties to the Indian government, which Canada is currently courting for a trade deal.
When asked to explain the sudden rise in extortion-related cases, the CBSA did not provide a response by deadline. The RCMP did not respond to requests for comment.
Last September, Ottawa put the band Bishnoi on its list of terrorist entitiesblaming him for targeting South Asian community leaders, businesses and cultural figures.
Meanwhile, the British Columbia government formed a extortion task force which is run by the RCMP and includes immigration officers.
“In fulfilling its public safety mandate, the CBSA works with law enforcement partners to rid Canada of criminal aliens who have no right to be here,” the task force said in a Jan. 20 update.
BC 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 the extortions a “slow-motion terrorist attack,” Eby has successfully pushed for more police officers and helicopters to be sent to communities affected by the crisis.
He also called for changes to deportations, saying it was “ridiculous” that some extortion suspects had claimed refugee status, which would likely delay their deportations.
The Bishnoi gang’s extortion and contract killings are money-making enterprises, but the criminal group has also acted on behalf of the Indian government, according to the RCMP.
Canada believes India has used Lawrence Bishnoi to attack Canadians active in the Khalistan separatist movement, which advocates independence for the Sikh-majority Punjab.
Evidence of the gang’s alleged work for the indian government came to light following the 2023 murder of Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C.
His murder 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 British Columbia. Neither Bishnoi nor his Canadian lieutenant golden brar They have been accused.
In October 2024, the national security advisor Nathalie Drouin said The “higher levels” of the Indian government worked with the Bishnoi gang to unleash violence in Canada.
Testifying at a committee hearing, he said Indian diplomats and agents gathered information about the Canadians and passed it on to officials in New Delhi.
“This information is shared with higher 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.” he told the public safety committee.
“Bishnoi is currently in prison in India and can order these actions through his gang, which has extensive criminal networks in India and internationally.
“Serious crimes committed in Canada include homicides, murder plots, extortion perpetrated and other types of extreme violence.”
He also accused the Indian government of spreading the “false narrative that Canada did not show him evidence and that we were ignoring his concerns about Khalistani violent extremism.”
Deepen national security ties
Despite India’s alleged ties to the gang blamed for fueling the extortion problem, Prime Minister Mark Carney has been deepening national security ties with New Delhi.
On February 6 and 7, India’s national security advisor Ajit Doval met in Ottawa 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 launched by U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff-obsessed White House.
After Doval’s visit, the 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 exchange of information on issues of mutual interest to Canada and India, the PCO said.
The PCO did not respond to questions from Global News about whether India had acknowledged its role in Nijjar’s killing or pledged to refrain from further attacks.
Canadian Sikh organizations were outraged that Doval was allowed to enter Canada.
“Ajit Doval’s recent presence in Canada is a grotesque betrayal,” said Moninder Singh, who was among more than a dozen Sikh activists who were warned by the RCMP that their lives were in danger.
“Doval, the man responsible for decades of human rights atrocities in Punjab, is the main architect of this transnational repression and violent campaign in Canada,” said Singh, spokesperson for the Sikh Federation of Canada.
He said India’s strategy was to “use criminal proxies to extort and terrorize the Sikh diaspora, and then offer ‘security cooperation’ 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 is important that we have a constructive dialogue around security,” the minister said when asked about his meeting with Doval.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada said it was disappointed the government had welcomed Doval.
“Mr. Doval is widely regarded as the architect of India’s foreign espionage and transnational repression operations,” the organization said.
However, the government’s official readout of the meeting made no reference to India’s involvement in its attacks on Canadians, the WSO said.
“We have made it clear that any so-called new engagement with India must be based on accountability,” spokesman Balpreet Singh said.
“Instead, Mr. Doval’s visit to Canada indicates once again that the government is willing to ignore ongoing criminal activity, extortion and intimidation in Canada that has roots in India and links to the Government of India.
“This is not diplomacy, it is appeasement.”
Plot to kill another Canadian
India has also been accused of trying to kill another Canadian, Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, a pro-Khalistan activist based in New York.
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 man faced charges in Canada or the United States.
On Friday, Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in the United States for his role in the conspiracy to kill Pannun. The FBI alleges that an Indian intelligence official set the failed plot in motion.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
