Canada, a ‘fertile ground’ for Punjabi gangsters and Bishnoi’s turf wars

Last December, the Canadian media widely reported that businessmen in Abbotsford, Surrey, and Vancouver had received extortion letters from Indian gangsters seeking “protection money”, which could be paid there or in India.

The letters followed two incidents wherein warning shots were fired at two places in Abbotsford. The local police confirmed that both the shooting incidents were connected.

Indian security officials said these were not isolated incidents.

Canadian gangsters of Punjabi origin

Last year, the police in British Columbia released a list of 11 criminals active in the province. Of them, nine were of Punjabi ethnicity.

Often, the Canadian gangsters of Punjabi origin hit the headlines in local newspapers after their turf battles result in brutal killings in British Columbian towns and even outside Canada.

Also read: High-tech comms, arms-dropping drones: How Bishnoi runs ops from jail

In 2022, a gangster of Punjabi origin, Jimi 'Slice' Sandhu, was eliminated by a rival gang in Thailand’s Phuket. Sandhu had gone to Canada as a seven-year-old and gotten involved in drugs and gangs in his teenage years.

After being sent off from Canada, he made Phuket his base. But then, his rival gang got to know about his whereabouts and a hit team was sent. One of the two hired gunmen sent to kill him was a former Canadian soldier, a joint probe found.

Drivers of drug-smuggling gangs

“If Punjabi gangsters such as Goldy Brar (currently believed to be hiding in the US) or the henchmen of Lawrence Bishnoi have a free run there (in Canada), it is more to do with the fertile ground they get there. The Canadians have been playing with fire for very long and it has come to haunt them now,” an Indian security official told The Federal on condition of anonymity.

Indian security officials say one of the worst-kept secrets of Canadian drug smuggling rings is the involvement of drivers of Punjabi origin. Around a dozen truck drivers of Punjabi origin have been arrested in the past couple of years, and some of them have been sent to the US to face trial in drug-smuggling cases.

Also read: Extortion, smuggling, terror: Bishnoi’s men and Canada-based Khalistanis

Turf war shifted to Canada

The Justin Trudeau government is engaged in a bitter diplomatic war with India over the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Khalistani extremist known for sheltering criminal-turned-Khalistani extremist Arshdeep Singh Gill alias Arsh Dala.

The Canadian authorities have also been claiming that besides killing Nijjar, the Bishnoi gang’s gunmen also killed Sukhdool Singh Gill alias Sukha Duneke, a gangster from Punjab who had fled to Canada.

“Sukha Duneke was from Lawrence Bishnoi’s rival Davinder Bambiha’s gang. The Bishnoi and Bambiha gangs have been involved in a turf war for over a decade now, and the reality is that their turf war has shifted to Canada, with their gang members getting easy shelter there,” said a police official on the condition of anonymity.

Bishnoi gang’s expanded footprints

The Bishnoi gang is also suspected of being behind two shooting incidents — at the houses of Punjabi singers Gippy Grewal and AP Dhillon — last year. The gang claimed both were targeted over their links with actor Salman Khan. It was yet another indication of how the Bishnoi gang had expanded its footprints in North America.

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Indian officials have been telling the Canadians for very long that Nijjar was involved in terrorism in India and also had links with criminals such as Arsh Dala.

“Dala and Nijjar worked in close coordination not only in India but also in Canada. We were seeking both Nijjar and Dala from the Canadian authorities, but they never took any action,” the official added.

More evidence

Indian security officials say Bishnoi’s key aide Goldy Brar has been active in the US and Canada for many years, helping his gang with killings and running extortion rackets back home in India.

This is another key indicator that the Bishnoi gang has expanded beyond India and found a footing in Canada where gangsters of Punjabi origin have been running drug-smuggling rackets for decades. It is Canada’s favourable environment that is helping them and not the so-called “Indian agents”.

Brar has been running a control room for the Bishnoi gang’s operations, like one another gang member, Vikram Brar, was running in the UAE before his deportation to India last year.

Also read: Bishnoi's Men: How a pool of thugs carried out Baba Siddique’s killing

Canada’s inaction

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has alleged in a press conference that well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life have been confirmed, leading to the conduct of Duty to Warn by law-enforcement authorities with members of the South Asian community — specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

“So, the RCMP accepted that pro-Khalistani extremists were indeed active on the Canadian soil,” pointed out an Indian security official.

“But then, what has the RCMP done to act on our request to send these extremists back to India to face law here? These extremists have been plotting terror in Punjab for many years. Canada saw one of the worst terror attacks in the form of the Kanishka bombing in 1985, in which 268 Canadians too died. And still they haven’t learnt their lesson,” the official added.