British Columbia Premier David Eby says he wants a gang based in India declared a terrorist organization in Canada.
The premier said Tuesday the Lawrence Bishnoi gang had been linked to extortions and other crimes against South Asian community members in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
He said he would write to Prime Minister Mark Carney to ask that the gang be given the terrorist designation "to enable police to be able to use the necessary tools to investigate."
Police have said South Asian community members are being extorted of cash under the threat of violence or death and that the India-based gang has been linked to some of those threats.
Eby said the federal government took similar action against a Mexican drug cartel.
"This is a serious step," Eby said. "We don't make this recommendation lightly, but this activity strikes at public confidence in the justice system, in our democracy."
Community members gathered in Surrey over the weekend to talk about the extortion problem. Local police say there has been an uptick in complaints from people getting letters, phone calls and social media messages demanding money under threat of violence.
RCMP have alleged Indian diplomats shared information about Sikh separatists in Canada with the Indian government and that top Indian officials then passed the information to the Bishnoi gang.
In December 2023, police in Abbotsford, B.C., said they were investigating extortion targeting affluent members of the South Asian community and that the crimes had ties to the Bishnoi gang.
India's counterterrorism law enforcement agency, the National Investigation Agency, has said Lawrence Bishnoi operates his terror-syndicate from jails in different states of India and through an associate in Canada.
Balpreet Singh from the World Sikh Organization of Canada said he was supportive of Eby’s request.
He said the Indian government has been using the Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a proxy to commit violent acts. He added that the gang’s acts of violence aren’t limited to B.C., and the group claimed responsibility for the killing of a trucking business owner in Mississauga, Ont.
Singh said the Bishnoi group isn’t just a criminal gang, but is backed by the Indian government, which makes it more dangerous.
“Extortions are at an all-time high here in Canada. That members of the Sikh community and now others as well are being extorted for money, and their houses are being shot up, and there are threats against their lives,” said Singh.
Many people who are facing threats from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang feel hesitant to come forward since they don’t want to put themselves in harm's way, he said.
B.C. Opposition public safety critic Elenore Sturko said Tuesday that she was unaware that police had “definitively” linked the Bishnoi gang to extortion cases, and questioned the timing of the premier’s comments.
“The police haven't come out and told my community that this gang is responsible for these incidents,” she said. “This is a very dramatic and headline grabbing thing that the premier's done today, but I hope it doesn't distract from the fact that there are other issues at play here that need addressing.”
Sturko said people who attended an event over the weekend in Surrey about violence and extortion expressed a lack of faith in the justice system, causing them to withhold or fear going to police with information.
“Some of them are afraid that if they come forward, the person who they accuse may in fact be … let out of jail on bail and come retaliate,” she said. “They don't believe that police have the power to do anything.”
“That's something that, simultaneously, the premier and the prime minister need to work on because even if it's a federal task force or a local task force, if people are not willing to come forward with information then it makes those investigations very, very difficult,” said Sturko, who is a former RCMP officer.
Sturko said tackling transnational organized crime is important, and she wants to know how many incidents have police linked to the Bishnoi gang in Canada.
The Surrey Police Service deferred questions about Eby's comments to the RCMP, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
