{"id":342297,"date":"2026-05-29T04:32:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/?p=342297"},"modified":"2026-05-29T04:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T23:02:07","slug":"bishnoi-extortion-gang-sent-letter-to-canadian-police-warning-it-had-1000-gunmen-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ebiztoday.news\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/bishnoi-extortion-gang-sent-letter-to-canadian-police-warning-it-had-1000-gunmen-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Bishnoi extortion gang sent letter to Canadian police warning it had 1,000 gunmen – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The India-based gang behind Canada\u2019s extortion crisis sent a letter to a B.C. police station last 12 months boasting that it had 1,000 foot soldiers willing to perform shootings, a police officer revealed on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Testifying at a deportation hearing, the extortion investigator described the letter from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that was delivered to a police station in Abbotsford, B.C., on Aug. 13, 2025.<\/p>\n

\u201cPolice actually received a letter addressed from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang that was sent to a police station,\u201d Const. Kevin St. Louis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis specific letter outlined essentially their criminal organization, where they talked about having upwards of 1,000 individuals who’re willing to perform these shootings as an element of the group,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt also alludes to how every business must pay their tax, which I feel clearly demonstrated the monetary group that this group is trying to obtain because of this of those extortions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The police detective is a detective with Project Al-Extortion, an investigation into organized crime groups extorting members of Alberta\u2019s South Asian community.<\/p>\n

The Abbotsford Police Department confirmed the letter.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetails of this letter were shared with our law enforcement partners engaged in combating the extortion crisis across Canada,\u201d Sgt. Paul Walker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDetectives working in our internal AbbyPD extortion task force (Operation Community Shield) began to analyze the origin of this letter and the contents spoken about inside.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not able to comment further on any of the main points contained throughout the letter or investigative steps taken since.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter emerged when St. Louis, an Edmonton Police Service detective, appeared as a witness on the deportation hearing of an alleged member of an Edmonton-based extortion gang.<\/p>\n

During his testimony, the officer gave a rare profile of the Bishnoi gang, a world criminal organization that was added to Canada\u2019s list of designated terrorist groups last September.<\/p>\n

The RCMP believes the Bishnoi gang was also hired by the Indian government to assassinate B.C. Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 in an alleged act of transnational repression.<\/p>\n

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Headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, who operates out of the Indian prison where he has been held since 2015, the crime group set off a criminal offense wave targeting South Asian Canadians.<\/p>\n

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To extortion victims, the Bishnoi gang relies on Indian nationals in Canada who’re paid \u201csmall\u201d amounts to conduct shootings but are also looking for a way of belonging, the detective testified.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI feel a whole lot of them have a look at it as form of being an element of a company or a gaggle,\u201d he told the Immigration and Refugee Board, adding \u201ca whole lot of them are being targeted at schools.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery person that we\u2019ve identified during this investigation is a short lived foreign employee or on a student visa and comparatively recent to Canada,\u201d St. Louis said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds form of funny to say but what we regularly see with criminal organizations and gangs is that it form of offer you that feeling of being involved and sense of community while you\u2019re with this specific group.\u201d<\/p>\n

The extortion gangs contact South Asian business owners and individuals to demand large sums of cash. If the victims don’t pay, their homes and businesses are targeted with gunfire, the officer said.<\/p>\n

The demands for money are all the time revamped WhatsApp, often referencing Lawrence Bishnoi or his right-hand man Goldy Brar, he said, but a lot of the calls come from one other Bishnoi member named Jora Sidhu.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe one consistent name actually making the extortions was Mr. Jora Sidhu,\u201d St. Louis said. \u201cWe imagine that Mr. Jora Sidhu was actually not in Canada while making these demands via WhatsApp.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cThat being said, we imagine he was the first individual who would handle communications for this extortions,\u201d the officer testified, adding the RCMP had identified him through voice-matching.<\/p>\n

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The Bishnoi group fractured last fall, he said, because of a falling out between its India-based namesake and Brar, his Canadian lieutenant. After that, the group\u2019s tactics modified, he added.<\/p>\n

Following the rift, gang members began shooting at homes and businesses without first contacting the owners to demand money, which he said may reflect a level of \u201cdisorganization.\u201d<\/p>\n

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