The Immigration and Refugee Board has ordered the deportation of a gunman hired by India’s Lawrence Bishnoi gang to conduct a shooting on Vancouver Island.
Abjeet Kingra, an Indian citizen who entered Canada on a student visa, was found inadmissible to Canada on Monday for being a member of a criminal organization.
On the behest of the Bishnoi gang, the previous Winnipeg resident fired 14 bullets at a Colwood, B.C. home, while his colleague torched the homeowners’ vehicles.
Each are accused of an identical attack in Surrey, B.C.
Kingra is the most recent to face deportation amid a nationwide crackdown on extortion gangs which might be preying on Canada’s South Asian communities.
The Canada Border Services Agency has opened greater than 400 investigations and expelled 55 suspects in response to the extortion crisis, in accordance with a spokesperson.
Officials consider the Bishnoi gang, headed by imprisoned Indian mobster Lawrence Bishnoi, is liable for the majority of the extortion-related violence.
Like many Bishnoi members, Kingra was granted a visa to check in Canada. He was working at a Winnipeg moving company when he was recruited.
In its decision, the Refugee Board said a B.C. judge had found that Kingra was a member of the Bishnoi Gang and that the group was a criminal organization.
“The group is thought to have interaction in murder, shootings, arsons, extortions and intimidation,” IRB Member Azeem Lalji said. “Law enforcement agencies have seen a rise in extortion-related incidents that they’ve attributed to Bishnoi-affiliated groups in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.”
“Law enforcement agencies in Canada have learned that the Indian diaspora community has been targeted with anonymous calls, text messages, social media messages and in-person contact with demands for money, e-transfers, cryptocurrency payments or high-value goods,” he added.
“The victims are threatened with violence or damage to their properties in the event that they don’t comply.”
He said Bishoi’s top lieutenant in North America until recently was Goldy Brar. A subcontractor often called Goldy Dhillon worked for Brar and recruited foot soldiers into the gang, Lalji said.
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After Lalji delivered the choice, Kingra asked how he could appeal the ruling to the Federal Court.
At his deportation hearing on Thursday, Kingra said a co-worker offered him $4,000 to accompany him to B.C. to attack the house of Punjabi singer A.P. Dhillon on Sept. 2, 2024.
Inside hours of the shooting, the Bishnoi gang posted a video on social media that Kingra had recorded, showing him firing a gun at the home.
Kingra testified he didn’t know he was working for the Bishnoi gang and only did it for straightforward money to send back to his parents in India.
However the CBSA said the crime group uses a system of insulation, in order that each member only knows the person above them in hierarchy.
The CBSA also told the Refugee Board that Kingra had pleaded guilty to 2 charges that alleged the crimes were done on the “behest” of the Bishnoi gang.
Kingra is currently serving a six-year sentence for the shooting, while awaiting trial for the second shooting. He’s due in court on June 18.
His alleged accomplice, Vikram Sharma, fled to India following the attacks and is needed by the RCMP on multiple charges.
During his daylong hearing before the Refugee Board, Kingra displayed notable memory lapses, often saying he couldn’t remember.
Appearing with out a lawyer, he depicted himself as a simple-minded youth who can have been recruited for the shooting because he was “an idiot.”
“I do know that I did a mistake and I got punishment for it,” he testified. But he said he was his parents’ only son and feared the Bishnoi gang would kill him if he was sent back to India.
The Refugee Board found that he provided no evidence of any dangers he might face in India.
CBSA official Jasbir Sandhu argued the attack on Dhillon’s home was not an extortion. Reasonably, Bishnoi was sending a message that it could reach anyone it wanted.
He also said Bishnoi had conducted murders in Canada, and that among the many victims was B.C. Sikh temple leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
The RCMP has alleged the Indian government hired Bishnoi to kill Nijjar, a frontrunner of the Khalistan movement that advocates for independence for India’s Punjab.
The gang has been most energetic in B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario, committing extortions, drug trafficking and murder-for-hire.
“The Bishnoi gang’s major operations proceed to be orchestrated by Mr. Bishnoi himself from behind bars,” the CBSA official told the hearing.
Sandhu said Bishnoi uploads selfies from prison, in addition to videos and photos of the gang’s activities, “in an effort to recruit young followers.”
Bishnoi allegedly used his Ontario-based lieutenant, Goldy Brar, to focus on Canadian Sikh business owners and entertainers, in addition to pro-Khalistan activists.
To underscore the seriousness of their threats, Bishnoi members typically drive to the homes of their victims at night, shoot at them and set fire to their properties.
As Global News first reported, the Bishnoi gang overtly sent a letter to a B.C. police station last August claiming it had 1,000 foot soldiers willing to perform shootings.
The letter stays under investigation. However the CBSA said the criminal network is believed to haven’t any greater than 700 members worldwide.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca