Canadian immigration officials are investigating hundreds of foreign nationals identified by British Columbia’s anti-extortion unit, according to new figures released to Global News.
The Canada Border Services Agency said it has opened investigations into 296 people who “have been brought to our attention.” BC Extortion Task Force Partner agencies as interested parties.”
The latest statistics as of February 4th represent a sharp increase Just a month ago, the task force said there were just over 100 CBSA investigations underway.
Immigration officials are reviewing the files for “potential inadmissibility,” meaning the CBSA could seek to deport the people from Canada for immigration violations.
“As a result of these investigations, a deportation order has been issued against 32 individuals, including 10 individuals who have already been deported from Canada,” the CBSA said in a statement.
Another nine are awaiting immigration and refugee hearings that could lead to deportation orders.
The statistics suggest that the crackdown on the extortion gangs that have spread fear in Canadian cities with large South Asian populations is unearthing more and more foreigners who shouldn’t be in the country.
Along with Ontario, Alberta and Manitoba, British Columbia is facing a crime wave with Indian-based crime groups demanding large sums of money from victims, most of whom are Canadians of Sikh background.
Those affected are first threatened by telephone. If they don’t pay, their homes and businesses are often destroyed sprayed with bullets or set on fire. The gangs have also been accused of murders.
The violence was typically perpetrated by locally recruited Indian nationals who entered Canada with student and work permits that have now expired.
A handful of criminal organizations are behind the plan, most notably Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang, which was able to operate out of an Indian prison.
However, the fight against blackmail is made more difficult by the Bishnoi gang Suspicion of ties to the Indian governmentthat Canada is currently seeking a trade agreement.
When asked to explain the sudden increase in extortion cases, the CBSA did not provide a response by deadline. The RCMP did not respond to requests for comment.
Last September, Ottawa sided with the Bishnoi gang List of terrorist organizationsand blamed it for targeting South Asian community leaders, businesses and cultural figures.
The government of British Columbia, meanwhile, formed one Blackmail Task Force which is led by the RCMP and includes immigration officers.
“In fulfilling 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.
British Columbia Premier David Eby and Mayor Brenda Locke of Surrey, the city where many of the extortions took place, are calling for more government support.
Eby described extortions as “slow-motion terrorist attacks” and successfully advocated for more police officers and helicopters for communities hit by the crisis.
He also called for changes to deportations, saying it was “ridiculous” that some extortion suspects had done so applied for refugee statuswhich will likely delay their deportation.
The Bishnoi gang’s extortions and contract killings are profitable ventures, but the criminal gang has also acted on behalf of the Indian government. according to the RCMP.
Canada believes India used Lawrence Bishnoi to target Canadians active in the Khalistan separatist movement, which advocates for the independence of Sikh-majority Punjab.
Evidence of the gang’s alleged work for the Indian government came to light after the killing of the Sikh temple leader in 2023 Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey, B.C
His murder was allegedly carried out by four Indian nationals who worked for Bishnoi and were acting on the instructions of officials in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government.
The defendants, arrested in Alberta and Ontario in 2024, their alleged getaway driver and a fourth suspect are awaiting trial in British Columbia. Neither Bishnoi nor his Canadian lieutenant Goldy Brar were accused.
National security advisor in October 2024 said Nathalie Drouin “High-level officials” in the Indian government collaborated with the Bishnoi gang to commit violence in Canada.
Testifying at a committee hearing, she said Indian diplomats and plenipotentiaries collected information on Canadians and passed it on to officials in New Delhi.
“This information is passed on to senior officials in the Government of India 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 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 murders, assassinations, extortion and other extreme violence.”
She also accused the Indian government of spreading the “false narrative that Canada did not provide him with evidence and that we ignored his concerns about Khalistani violent extremism.”
Deepening national security relations
Despite India’s alleged ties to the gang said to be fueling the extortion problem, Prime Minister Mark Carney has deepened national security ties with New Delhi.
On February 6 and 7, India’s national security adviser Ajit Doval met with Drouin and Public Security Minister Gary Anandasangaree in Ottawa.
The visit came as Carney pushes 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 said the Privy Councilor’s Office Canada and India had agreed to exchange security and law enforcement liaison officers.
This 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 the killing of Nijjar or committed to refraining from further attacks.
Canadian Sikh organizations were outraged. Doval was even 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 warned by the RCMP that her life was in danger.
“Doval, the man responsible for decades of human rights crimes in Punjab, is the chief architect of this transnational campaign of repression and violence in Canada,” said Singh, the spokesman for Sikh Federation Canada.
He said India’s strategy was to “use criminal proxies to blackmail and terrorize the Sikh diaspora and then offer ‘security cooperation’ as a Trojan horse to further infiltrate our institutions.”
Anandasangaree defended his government’s efforts to strengthen ties with India’s national security agencies.
“It is important that we have a constructive dialogue on security,” the minister said when asked about his meeting with Doval.
The World Sikh Organization of Canada said it was disappointed the government included Doval.
“Mr. Doval is widely regarded as the architect of India’s foreign espionage and transnational oppressive 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 re-engagement with India must be based on responsibility,” said spokesman Balpreet Singh.
“Instead, Mr. Doval’s visit to Canada signals once again that the government is willing to ignore the ongoing criminal activity, extortion and intimidation in Canada that has its roots in India and ties to the Indian government.
“This is not diplomacy, this 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 attacks were part of the Modi government’s attempt to assassinate prominent members of the Khalistan movement in the West.
At the time of the attacks, both Nijjar and Pannun organized a symbolic referendum to gauge support for Khalistan. None of them have been charged in Canada or the United States
On Friday, Nikhil Gupta pleaded guilty in the USA about his role in the conspiracy to kill Pannun. The FBI claims an Indian intelligence officer carried out the failed plot.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
