17 Punjabi Men Arrested In Canada For Running Extortion Gang, Targeting Indians

 

 

Chandigarh : The Extortion Task Force of Canada's Peel Regional Police has acted against the international criminal gang called 'Four Brothers' and arrested 17 men, almost all of whom are of Punjabi origin. A total of 106 criminal cases have been registered against these accused, Peel Regional Police said in a statement.

The Extortion Task Force of the Peel Police "dismantled a coordinated campaign of intimidation, threats, and escalating violence used to extort local businesses", according to a press release issued by the Peel Regional Police on its official website on Monday.

The targets of this gang were mostly local businessmen of Indian and South Asian origin, who were being threatened and demanded ransoms.

 

According to the Canadian police investigation, this gang was active in Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon and British Columbia in Ontario, where there is a large population of Indians, especially the Punjabi community. These criminals targeted restaurant owners, trucking company operators and other local businessmen from their own community.

When an Indian businessman refused to pay the ransom, their homes and business premises were indiscriminately shot at and arson incidents were committed. Investigations have linked these 17 Punjabi men to a total of 24 violent incidents, during which they fired 324 rounds.

 

The police have released the names and photographs of the arrested men.

All these accused are between 22 and 30 years of age. The highest number of arrests has been made from Brampton (Ontario): Iqbal Singh Bhagaria (25), Dilawarpreet Singh (26), Mandeep Singh (21), Prabhdeep Sohal (22), Pratapbir Ghuman (22), Ajaydeep Singh (29), Navroop Singh (24), Amritjot Singh (22), Jashanpreet Singh (22), Guneet Guneet (27), Sukhwinder Singh (32) and Mohinder Singh (30); Norval (Ontario): Akashdeep Singh (24); Surrey (British Columbia): Ravinder Singh (25) and Jashanbir Singh (21); Barrie (Ontario): Rajan Singh (28); Manteca (California, USA): Gautam Gautam (22).

 

This is not the first case when Punjabi men have been arrested in Canada or the US in cases of extortion and gang war. Several such cases have come to light in the past few days:

It is an Edmonton Police Service (EPS) investigation into an international organised crime ring. The Edmonton police had busted a large-scale extortion racket targeting South Asian businessmen and arrested several Punjabi men, including Manav Heer (19), Gurkaran Singh (19), Jashandeep Kaur (19) and Parminder Singh (21).

The Surrey police have taken Damanjit Singh (22) and Pardaman Singh (30) into custody on charges of shooting at a house and demanding ransom.

 

Similarly, the Calgary police have also arrested Jaskaran Singh (21) and Karanbir Singh (21) on charges of running an extortion network.

British Columbia Task Force also registered cases against Punjabi men like Avtar Singh (22), Sandeep Singh (28) and Jagdeep Singh (24) on charges of extortion and firing at homes.

Link with Lawrence Bishnoi Group

Canadian Police and intelligence agencies have linked the incidents of shooting at the homes of Indian artists like Gippy Grewal and A P Dhillon and people of Indian origin to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang based in India and their Punjabi network present in Canada.

 

According to the Canada Border Services Agency, many of the men arrested are not permanent citizens, but many were living on expired work visas or asylum. Of the 17 men arrested by the Peel Police, six can be deported as soon as the case is concluded.

“Our efforts include intelligence sharing, investigations, arrests, detentions and removals of ineligible foreign nationals involved in extortion activities,” said Erin O’Gorman, president of the Canada Border Services Agency. As of May 7, 2026, we have initiated 446 immigration investigations, issued 118 deportation orders on various ineligibility grounds and removed 55 people from the country.”