The India-based gang behind Canada’s extortion crisis sent a letter to a British Columbia police station last year bragging that it had 1,000 foot soldiers ready to carry out shootings, a police officer revealed Thursday.
While testifying at the extradition hearing, the extortion investigator described a Lawrence Bishnoi gang letter delivered to a police station in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on August 13, 2025.
“The police have already received a letter from Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang that has been sent to the police station,” Const. Kevin St. Louis told the IRB.
“This specific letter basically identified their criminal organization, where they talked about having up to 1,000 individuals willing to carry out these shootings as part of the group,” he said.
“It also alludes to how every company needs to pay their taxes, which I think clearly demonstrates the financial gain this group is looking to gain as a result of these extortions.”
The Abbotsford Police Department confirmed the message.
“Details of this letter have been shared with our law enforcement partners involved in combating the extortion crisis across Canada,” Sgt. Paul Walker told Global News.
“Detectives working with AbbyPD’s Internal Extortion Task Force (Operation Community Shield) have begun investigating the origin of this letter and the contents discussed within it,” he added.
“I am not in a position to comment further on any of the details contained in the letter or the investigative steps taken since.”
The letter surfaced during an extradition hearing for an alleged member of an Edmonton-based extortion ring linked to violence in three provinces.
St. Louis appeared as a witness, providing a rare briefing on the Bishnoi crime group, which was posted on Canada’s website. List of designated terrorist groups Last September.
The Edmonton Police Service detective is a member of Project Racketeering, which investigates organized crime targeting members of Alberta’s South Asian community.
Headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, operating from the Indian prison where he has been held since 2015, the criminal group launched a crime wave targeting South Asian Canadians.
The investigator testified that the Bishnoi gang, to extort money from its victims, relied on Indian nationals in Canada who were paid “small” sums to carry out shootings but were also looking for a sense of belonging.
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“I think a lot of them look at it as being part of an organization or a group,” he told the IRB, adding that “a lot of them are being targeted in schools.”
“Every individual we have identified during this investigation is a temporary foreign worker or holder of a student visa and is relatively new to Canada.”
“It sounds funny to say that, but what we often see with criminal organizations and gangs is that it kind of gives you a sense of involvement and a sense of community when you’re with that specific group,” St. Louis said.
Extortion gangs contact business owners and individuals in South Asia to demand large sums of money. The officer said that if the victims did not pay, their homes and shops would be shot up.
He said requests for money were always made via WhatsApp, often referred to Lawrence Bishnoi or his right-hand man Goldie Brar.
But most of the calls come from another Bishnoi member named Gaura Sidhu.
“The only consistent name who carried out the extortion is Mr. Jora Sidhu,” St. Louis said. “We believe that Mr. Jora Sidhu was not actually in Canada while making these demands via WhatsApp.”
“However, we believe he was the main person who would take care of the communications for these extortion operations,” the officer testified, adding that the RCMP identified him through audio matching.
Bishnoi’s group split last fall over a dispute between the India-based group of the same name and his Canadian lieutenant, Brar. He added that after that, the organization’s tactics changed.
In the wake of the dispute, gang members began shooting up homes and businesses without first contacting the owners to demand money, which he said reflected a degree of “disorder.”
“I think one of the biggest changes we’ve seen has been a change in the overall modus operandi of these groups, how they do these things,” he said.
He pointed out the emergence of imitation groups as well, taking advantage of the fear of extortion gangs. Although they have dropped the names of the Bishnoi gang and its leaders, they do not carry out shootings, St. Louis said.
The officer also described the challenges investigators face, which include the use of encrypted messaging apps with international phone numbers.
Gangs also move firearms between provinces, making them “practically impossible” to trace. He added that in one case, a gun was used in extortion shootings in two governorates within a 24-hour period.
“The pace at which these firearms are transferred between different counties has made it extremely difficult to locate and confiscate many of these firearms,” the police investigator said.
The testimony came at the extradition hearing of Jashandeep Singh, an alleged member of an extortion ring linked to shootings in Alberta, British Columbia and Ontario.
St. Louis said a video seized by police showed Singh pointing a gun at another man’s head. The same firearm was linked to a racketeering shooting in Surrey, British Columbia
During his virtual deportation hearing, Singh appeared from what looked like a bedroom, with a group of stuffed animals behind him.
The case is the latest attempt by the Canada Border Services Agency to address the extortion crisis in Canadian cities by expelling those involved.
Provinces with large Canadian Sikh populations were hardest hit, particularly British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario.
on monday, Peel police announced 17 suspected members of a gang called For Brothers that was extorting business owners in South Asia have been arrested.
But deportations have become the main tool against extortion groups, because most of their members are not Canadian.
As of May 7, the Public Security Agency had opened 446 investigations into suspects in extortion cases and issued 118 deportation orders, while 55 people had already been deported.
The bulk of the cases, 188, were in the Toronto area, followed by British Columbia, with 132, and the Prairies, where 126 investigations were opened.
“When police identify individuals who may be in breach of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, they notify the CBSA, which conducts immigration investigations that could lead to enforcement action, including removal from Canada,” the CBSA said.
An internal RCMP report said Bishnoi’s group was also involved in murder-for-hire crimes in Canada and was “acting on behalf of the Indian government.”
RCMP believe India hired the Bishnoi gang to assassinate British Columbia Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nigar in 2023 in an alleged act of transnational repression.
The Indian government allegedly targeted Nagar because he was a prominent activist in the Khalistan movement seeking independence for the Indian province of Punjab.
The government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi involved In a second assassination attempt against a Canadian Khalistan activist residing in New York.
Police warned more than a dozen other Canadians, most of them Khalistan movement activists, that their lives were in danger.
India denies any involvement, and this week its top envoy in Ottawa told the Globe and Mail that Canada’s national security agencies had been “hacked.”
Asked whether the Indian High Commissioner would be fired over his remarks, Foreign Minister Anita Anand’s staff did not respond.
Stewart.Bell@globalnews.ca
