Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is the latest politician calling for the federal government to designate the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist entity.
His call on a visit to Surrey, B.C., comes after RCMP in the city announced last month they had made two arrests in an investigation into extortion targeting the South Asian business community.
Police have linked some extortion cases back to the gang, whose leader Lawrence Bishnoi is in prison in India.
Poilievre says a terror designation will be part of a tough-on-crime push the Conservatives will make during the fall session of Parliament.
He says the move would help police and prosecutors deal with an international extortion group that's been active in Surrey as well as cities including Calgary and Brampton, Ont.
Poilievre says his party is also pushing to increase mandatory prison sentences for extortion, starting with a four-year sentence for the first offence.
"Our plan repeals catch and release bail, brings in mandatory jail time for repeat offenders, and ensures that we have a ban on the Bishnoi terrorists, so that this network of extortionists and terrorists are automatically criminalized," he told a news conference.
In June, B.C. Premier David Eby asked the federal government to declare the gang a terrorist organization, a call repeated by Alberta Premier Danielle Smith last month.
Picture Courtesy: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns
