Punjabi youngsters deported from Canada in escalating extortion crackdown

In a rare public step, Surrey Police released his photograph on May 4, explicitly asking the community for information on his associates, daily movements, and any criminal activities he may have been involved in while living in the country.

The appeal is backed by the City of Surrey’s $250,000 Extortion Reward Fund, which offers substantial payouts for credible tips leading to arrests and convictions.

Lovebir, 22, followed a similar trajectory. The foreign national, who arrived in Canada on a study permit in the fall of 2023, was identified by Surrey Police as a suspect in extortion-related violence. The police linked him to a specific incident in which shots were fired at a Surrey home after a $500,000 demand. Once again, intelligence passed from local detectives to the CBSA triggered an immigration investigation that ended in his deportation around February 2026. Like Prabhjot, authorities released his image post-removal to gather further details about his network.

Extortion, drug trafficking, and shootings

Arshdeep’s case revealed the inter-provincial reach of the problem. The young man, who entered Canada on a study permit in August 2022, was deported on January 19, 2026, after being found inadmissible for organised criminality.

Evidence showed he was connected to extortion cases in Surrey, an arson in Ontario captured on camera, a shooting in Edmonton, and a string of auto thefts and insurance frauds spanning British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. Phone records placed him in contact with more than a dozen other suspects, including alleged orchestrators of café shootings in Surrey. He moved frequently between provinces while under immigration supervision before the CBSA detained and removed him under escort.

Sandhu, the oldest of the group at around 25 or 26, had been in Canada longer, arriving in December 2016 and becoming a permanent resident in 2018. Yet he, too, was deported on February 3, 2026, after the Immigration and Refugee Board ruled him a danger to the public.

Sandhu was a leading figure in ‘The Ruffians’, a Surrey-based gang composed largely of international students involved in drug trafficking, firearms offences, drive-by shootings, stolen vehicles and fraud. Court documents described a “high-risk lifestyle” that included repeated breaches of release conditions such as curfews and electronic monitoring.

His case showed the difficulty of removing long-term residents once entrenched in criminal networks, and his removal was seen as a significant blow to the group’s operations in the Lower Mainland.

Local operatives following directions from abroad

These individual removals are not isolated incidents but part of a national strategy. Surrey has recorded roughly 87 to 91 extortion attempts since late 2025, connected to at least 15 or 16 shootings and two arson cases. Many victims are repeat targets, often from the South Asian community, and police describe a pattern in which young foreign nationals serve as local operatives or “foot soldiers” while organisers direct operations from abroad. The BC Provincial Extortion Task Force, working closely with the CBSA, has made intelligence-sharing and rapid removals central to its approach.

Chief Constable Norm Lipinski stated: “The SPS continues to work with our law enforcement partners with the shared objective of tackling the interjurisdictional and national components of extortion. We remain steadfastly committed to our policing colleagues and to our community in combating the extortion crisis.”