Edmonton appears to be ground zero for extortion plots that have criminally extracted millions from successful business people within its South Asian community, says a Surrey, British Columbia-based senior law enforcement leader with the RCMP. Read More
’Edmonton was probably the first place that started to see the series of extortions in the fall of 2023 really.’
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‘Edmonton was probably the first place that started to see the series of extortions in the fall of 2023 really.’
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Edmonton appears to be ground zero for extortion plots that have criminally extracted millions from successful business people within its South Asian community, says a Surrey, British Columbia-based senior law enforcement leader with the RCMP.
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“Edmonton was probably the first place that started to see the series of extortions in the fall of 2023 really. And then, of course, we saw extortions here in the Lower Mainland, as well as in Peel Region in Ontario,” RCMP Superintendent Adam MacIntosh told Postmedia in a phone interview this week.
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“In January of 2024, the RCMP said, ‘Obviously, there’s connections across the country. We need to look at how we might be able to support the police of jurisdictions across the country.’”
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Headline News
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So the RCMP’s National Coordination and Support Team (NCST) was born to help coordinate and support investigations at the police of jurisdiction level.
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In addition to being in charge of NCST, MacIntosh wears the hat of leading the Cyber and Financial Investigation Teams (CFIT) in British Columbia — both high stakes, high accountability roles, generating intelligence and evidence through investigation, looking for inter-relation of crimes across the country, and internationally.
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Edmonton as incubator
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The NCST supported the Edmonton Police Service as a ring of extortion emerged in the Project Gaslight investigation where South Asian home builders were being targeted via arson, and continues to probe other organized crime, including transnational events, drug trafficking, cyber security and national security,.
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“You should be very proud of the work done by the Edmonton Police Service in Project Gaslight. They’ve done some fantastic policing which has resulted in positive outcomes of suppression through enforcement and charges,” said MacIntosh.
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“They stood up another new task force, and there’s simply some really great work going across this country with police agencies around a very complicated, sophisticated group of organized crime related to these extortions.”
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The suspected kingpin charged in Project Gaslight, is still in Dubai. Canadian authorities are planning to extradite Maninder Singh Dhaliwal, who has an Aug. 1 Edmonton court date, along with four other Edmontonians charged in the case.
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Dhaliwal, 35, was arrested late last year in the United Arab Emirates. Edmonton police applied for the extradition because they believe he’s the leader of the criminal organization for the Project Gaslight series of extortions.
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The fight goes international
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There are RCMP officers in many foreign countries, and internationally-based extortion schemes are part of the reason for that.
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MacIntosh said multiple agencies — and the B.C. and Alberta provincial governments — calls to the federal government to declare the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang a terrorist organization would give powerful new teeth to investigative and enforcement efforts.
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“As we’re investigating and supporting the police of jurisdictions, when we have information that may or may not relate to foreign actor interference or the activities of organized crime groups outside of Canada, we work with our partners, whether it’s in the national security world, our international Liaison Program, or other police agencies outside of Canada. And so obviously, we’re looking at who’s involved in that, including the Lawrence Bishnoi gang,” MacIntosh said, declining to go into specific details of where those connections occur.
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“What I can tell you is when it comes to Maninder Dhaliwal… he’s charged, and that’s why extradition is being sought to have him returned to Canada (from Dubai). But it’s linked to other investigations where people may have not been charged. It’s not information I can share,” he said, citing Surrey, B.C. and Peel, Ont., RCMP investigations.
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Big ticket fear: how extortion schemes work
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Organized crime is as old as crime itself, and thanks to digital tools, the criminal world is smaller, with criminal connections making the leap from continent to continent.
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It’s big ticket fear: the extortioners leverage the biggest fear possible for cost-effective ways to bring in big cash.
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“Often organized crime groups are within the community of which they’re trying to conduct their criminal activity. So they might identify a person or a business, and they’ll make contact with that person or business, and they’ll know something personal about them to help ‘legitimize’ the threats being made, saying, basically, ‘If you don’t pay, harm could come to you, or come to your family, or we’re going to damage your business of some sort,’ instilling that fear in that individual and causing them to want to pay up to prevent that harm from coming,” MacIntosh said.
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“In (Project Gaslight), we are looking at what we believe are South Asian-based organized crime groups targeting similar groups within communities in places like Edmonton. They’re targeting individuals that they believe that they can obviously extort money from them for the purposes of financial gain.”
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There’s nothing petty about these crimes — no small potatoes for today’s most sophisticated criminal entrepreneurs.
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“It’s not like, you know, they do a hundred extortions and they make $10,000 — it wouldn’t be cost effective for them,” MacIntosh said.
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“Organized crime groups exist for the purposes of financial gain and power. And so they invest in schemes, whether it’s drug trafficking or extortion. If it’s not lucrative, they’ll move on to something else. And often, organized crime groups are doing multiple different mechanisms to make money, not just one.”
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In a digital world, the leverage to instill real fear can be chillingly easy to come by as are social media posts about dear aging parents or nieces on other continents.
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“(Criminals) use that to exploit that fear, to compel them to want to pay. It’s a very effective way — that’s why they’re doing it, because people are paying,” MacIntosh said.
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“Fear is a powerful thing, a powerful driver, and it’s why they’re meeting with success.”
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Way past street thugs
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Within the organized crime group’s activities, legit businesses are often sprinkled into the portfolio for the appearance of legitimacy or money laundering.
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“Organized crime groups are successful because they make a business out of what they’re doing,” MacIntosh said.
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At this level, the criminals are way past street thugs.
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“We’re aware of many organized crime groups, some larger than others, some global in size, that are involved in multiple ventures around making money — all illegal, of course. Depending on the level of sophistication, some organized crime groups would have some legitimate stuff to try and obfuscate their response, like the sources of their funds. That’s what makes it so complicated, is the level of that organization,” MacIntosh said.
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It’s safe to say the amount extorted to date since the Edmonton extortion ring was uncovered runs into millions, he said.
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Trust counters fear
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For victims and potential marks, overcoming the fear instilled by crime rings means trusting in law enforcement.
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“We will work with them to support any safety issues they have, depending on what the threat is,” MacIntosh said.
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“It’s only through trust with the police, and building that trust, and Edmonton police have done a very good job to support the community, and the success of Gaslight is an example of that is to encourage people to come forward.”
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The coming week’s a big one in Edmonton for fighting extortion plots on multiple fronts.
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A second wave of at least one recent Edmonton arson and five extortions are expected to be hot topics at a 7 p.m. Monday, July 28, town hall meeting at Southwood Community League.
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Project Gaslight court dates are July 31 and Aug. 1.
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