Surrey Launches $250,000 Reward Fund for Crime Tips After Rise in Extortion Targeting South Asian Businesses

Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke, back centre, and B.C. Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General Garry Begg, back right, listen as Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski speaks during a news conference at Surrey Police headquarters, in Surrey, B.C., on Nov. 29, 2024. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

The City of Surrey, B.C., has announced a $250,000 reward fund to encourage the public to share information that leads to charges or convictions in extortion cases and the related violence. There have been increased reports of extortions targeting the South Asian community in recent months.

The city made the announcement on Sept. 15, calling it an additional tool to combat extortion. Both the city and the province have expressed concern over the growing number of cases targeting members of the South Asian community, often involving threatening demands for money via letters, phone calls, texts, or social media.

By the time of the announcement, the Surrey Police Service was actively investigating 44 extortion cases, including 27 involving shootings, the city said.

“We will not let violence and extortion take hold in our city,” Mayor Brenda Locke said at a Sept. 15 press conference. “Extortions are planned and deliberate, and while we are told transnational, make no mistake: this is a Canadian problem, affecting Canadian businesses and Canadian residents.”

Video posted to social media in July showed the windows of Surrey’s Kap’s Cafe, owned by Indian celebrity Kapil Sharma, riddled with bullet holes. The restaurant was shot at again the following month.

Surrey police will handle the tips received and determine the value of any reward, only issuing payments if the information directly results in identification, prosecution, and conviction, the city said. Police officers will monitor the extortion tip line seven days a week between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. local time, and Punjabi-speaking personnel will be available, according to police.

Chief Const. Norm Lipinski said shootings related to extortion threats often take place in the early morning hours, with shots fired at homes, vehicles, and businesses.

“To my knowledge, the intention was not to shoot at people,” he said.

Lipinski said the threats are likely underreported, but he believed police were building momentum to encourage people to come forward with their experiences.

The provincial government in June launched a 60-day public awareness campaign to help people identify extortion activity and encourage them to report it, due to a recent spike in cases.

“The recent surge in extortion threats targeting members of the South Asian community is very concerning, and we are doing everything we can to support police efforts in investigating these crimes,” said then-Public Safety Minister Garry Begg in a June 26 press release.

Premier David Eby has linked extortion targeting the South Asian community in B.C., Alberta, and Ontario to India-based gangs, in particular the Lawrence Bishnoi group, which he has urged Ottawa to designate as a terrorist organization.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre have joined him in calling for this designation, highlighting the group’s transnational criminal operations in Canada and abroad.

Garry Clement, former national director of the RCMP’s Proceeds of Crime program, says transnational organized crime groups operating in Canada are not limited to South Asian networks. He says Chinese criminal organizations, known as triads, also target diaspora communities in provinces like B.C.

He told The Epoch Times in a Sept. 16 interview that he’s heard from residents in Richmond, B.C., who say all the businesses in the area have “no choice” but to pay “protection money” to the triads, and that most don’t report it to police, believing it won’t make a difference.

The Chinese triads are involved in fentanyl trafficking and money laundering operations, often working in partnership with Mexican cartels and with the support of the People’s Republic of China, Clement previously told The Epoch Times.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.