Community opens up about anxiety around extortion, as RCMP brass admits force was initially ‘on back foot’

list of extortion files has increased since task drive was constituted, RCMP says

Attitude toward extortion in Surrey shifts from 'if' it will happen to 'when': business advocate

Extortion cases are piling up in Surrey — but what can be done?

Pattern of extortions targeted at B.C.’s South Asian community comes to light

More police alone won't solve extortion crisis in Surrey, B.C., says criminologist

B.C. Launches task force to tackle rise in extortion, shootings in South Asian community

B.C. Commits $100K to extortion awareness campaign. Is it enough?

B.C. Security footage appears to show a violent extortion attempt

'Strong evidence' links 'highest levels' of Indian government to violence: RCMP

Surrey mayor calls for national intervention as shootings and extortions plague city

Despite the international scope of extortion, Sims said that the fact remains that this crisis is happening in Surrey.

“When the shooters are here, and they’re shooting the people here, they need to be arrested here,” she said.

Another audience member tells the panel there have been three shootings in their neighbourhood during the recent crime wave, and expressed frustration over the lack of arrests.

Lipinski reiterated that investigations take time if they’re going to secure a conviction.

“The intention of all the police in this room is to hold these people to account,” the police chief said. €œTo do that, we need a strong case. And that's what we're putting together.”

Connect FM radio host Vijay Saini said there needs to be greater transparency on alleged extortionists. In particular, he asked why the three people who were recently deported by the CBSA haven't been publicly identified.

“Those three names should be plastered everywhere,” said Saini. "We don't owe them anything. Families need to see criminals in handcuffs.”

Jaswinder Singh Dilawari, one of Sims’ fellow hosts at Swift Radio, said he has conducted interviews with officials like Surrey’s mayor and the chief constable on what they need to solve the extortion crisis.

He asked why there isn’t a special prosecutor for Surrey to help deal with extortion cases, and whether there is enough co-ordination among different levels of government on the issue.

Sharma, B.C.'s attorney general, said a special prosecutor might not be fit to deal with a rash of extortion cases, as they don’t investigate cases themselves.

She also reiterated that one of her top priorities is making sure Crown prosecutors are well resourced to deal with the crisis.

An audience member says there needs to be a single government representative fronting the response to extortionists in Surrey.

He likened the situation to a war — and that he’d never seen a war where the winning side had multiple leaders and no single objective.

In response, Brewer said the communication between agencies in the extortion task force is “virtually seamless.”

“When it comes to working on investigations and criminality, police roll up their sleeves, we put away whatever the different badges are and everything else, and we work on dealing with criminality,” he said.

University of the Fraser Valley criminologist Wade Deisman, who has worked on national security initiatives, links the extortion crisis to a campaign of “trans-national payback” by the Indian government against Canada for being a “safe haven” for supporters of the Khalistan movement, which pushes for a separate Sikh state in India.

Even as support for the Khalistan cause has quietened, experts say it has carried momentum among Sikhs in Western countries like Canada, which is home to the largest Sikh population outside India.

In response to the concerns raised about the Indian government’s role in the extortion crisis, Liberal MP Dhaliwal says he introduced a private member’s bill asking to investigate foreign interference originating from India.

He said he opposed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Canada for the G7 meeting earlier this year.

“I [was] opposed to that prime minister coming into Canada, because the lives of Canadians and businesses are at risk,” Dhaliwal said.

He added Carney was taking concerns of foreign interference very seriously and had brought up the issue at the last Liberal caucus meeting.

Last week, the CBSA said it had opened immigration investigations into 78 foreign nationals who might be inadmissible to the country. It also deported three people who are connected to extortion investigations in B.C.

“If individuals come into the country with the purpose of perpetrating violent extortion, they will be removed from Canada following all appropriate laws,” Krieger said last week.

Krieger responds to the audience member who raised the issue of “trans-national repression” by saying it shows how important cross-agency response will be within the provincial task force.

She said the involvement of the RCMP and Canada Border Services Agency will help deal with international threats.

“The complexity of these crimes and the fact they relate to international dimensions … really support the importance of the task force,” she said.

An audience member brings up the role of the Indian government in extortion cases — something CSIS officials have previously mentioned — and said Indian diplomats are involved in “trans-national repression."

He asked why Prime Minister Mark Carney went to White Rock, B.C., to announce support for the White Rock Pier but didn’t come to neighbouring Surrey to answer community questions.

The rest of the audience responded by clapping loudly.

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