BURST
While arrests in some extortion cases targeting the South Asian community are welcome, more needs to be done to end the terror, two B.C. community leaders say.
Jinny Sims, a former NDP MLA who is now a Surrey radio host, noted that there were more shootings on Monday, even as the news broke of charges against seven suspects in three targeted incidents dating back to 2024.
“When you think about that, it is crazy,” said Sims, who hosts a program on Swift Radio, which was targeted in a shooting Sept. 29. “Yes, I am really happy that the police have made some arrests. I think they need to catch more.”
Kash Heed, a former B.C. solicitor general and current Richmond councillor, said while the police investigations have yielded results, he hopes they go after bigger players than those caught so far.
“They’re getting the people at the lower end of the spectrum. They’re getting the people that are hired most likely to do what they’re doing, to go out and create the fear by shooting up houses, shooting up businesses, torching cars, making those threats,” Heed said. “They now need to strategically investigate, work this up to the people that are behind the extortions.”
Charges against seven men were announced Monday — five in connection with two confirmed extortion cases in Surrey — and two in an arson case that might be linked to extortion.
Mandeep Gidda, 23, Nirmaandeep Cheema, 20, and Arundeep Singh, 26, were charged with reckless discharge of a firearm last March 27 outside a house in the 13300-block of 89A Avenue in Surrey. No one was injured. Postmedia has learned that one of the three is here on a visa, one is a permanent resident and the status of the third is unknown.
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton at the Surrey Police Service said investigators will look at whether the trio is connected to other extortion cases. There have been 56 extortions in the city this year, including 31 shootings.
The provincial extortion task force also announced charges Monday in an August 2024 shooting and arson at the home of a person who had been threatened with extortion. Abjeet Kingra, 26, and Vikram Sharma, 24, each face charges of discharge of a firearm with intent and arson.
Kingra and Sharma were previously charged — and Kingra convicted — in a shooting and arson in September 2024 at the Colwood home of musician and producer AP Dhillon. Sharma is believed to be hiding in India.
Both were identified as being linked to the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi criminal organization — which was recently designated a terrorist entity in Canada.
Also charged Monday with arson and possession of stolen property were Harmanjot Brar, 25, and Hardilpreet Singh, 23, related to an incident Sunday morning incident in the 15000-block 81B Avenue in Surrey. Details of their immigration status are unknown.
Police sources told Postmedia that while some of the extortion cases may be linked to organized crime in Canada and India, others appear to be lower-level “copycat” criminals trying to capitalize on the fear created over the last two years.
Heed said he knows that some business people paid their extorters, including one person who transferred $3 million to Indian bank accounts in a case that “absolutely had links to organized crime.”
Sims thinks that because some of early victims paid, younger less-sophisticated criminals think they might make cash using the same frightening tactics.
“For some of them, this appears on the surface to be a quick way to make some money, especially when people were paying at the beginning,” she said.
She also said those involved who are in Canada on visas should be sent home.
“If they are non residents and they are found guilty and they are found to be using weapons to threaten our business community, I have no difficulty saying then they should be deported.”
Heed believes that the various B.C. agencies and task forces should be merged into one. A national task force into the extortions was announced last year. The provincial task force was announced Sept. 16. And both the Surrey and Abbotsford police departments have dedicated units investigating extortion cases in their cities.
“What they need to do is have a unified task force that’s going to be on the ground level and be able to work it up to see if there is any international connections here,” said Heed, a longtime police officer. “It’s got to be from the ground up. It can’t be from the top down.”
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