5 Indian-origin people arrested in Canada for extortion

A specialised Canadian police task force has arrested five people including two women of Indianorigin for alleged extortion and firearmrelated offences targeting the South Asian business community in the Greater Toronto areaThe Peel Regional Police Extortion Investigative Task Force EITF with the support of the Ontario Provincial Police OPP executed a search warrant resulting in the arrest of four individuals Gagan Ajit Singh 23 Anmoldeep Singh 23 Hashmeet Kaur 25 Iyamjot Kaur 21 and Arundeep Thind 39 according to a Peel Regional Police press release on WednesdayWhile Gagan Ajit Singh Hashmeet Kaur and Iyamjot Kaur belong to the Brampton area Anmoldeep Singh belongs to Mississauga They have been charged with extortion unauthorised possession of a firearm unauthorised possession of prohibited or restricted weapon and fraud among other offences The fifth suspect Arundeep Thind has no fixed address and has been charged with extortionThe Peel Regional Police launched the EITF in December last year in response to a wave of South Asian business owners reporting threats of violence against them and their families if they didnt pay money according to a CBC News reportSuperintendent Shelley Thompson who heads the unit at a news conference on Wednesday said a total of 24 charges have been laid in relation to the 29 extortion attempts under investigation Thompson said in nine of those instances guns were fired at unoccupied businesses according to the Toronto Star newspaper However no injuries were reported in connection with the shootingsShe further said the targeted businesses vary but include restaurants and bakeries trucking and transport companies and independent used car dealerships all with South Asian owners Explaining the modus operandi Thompson said the owners were contacted either by phone social media apps or video calling services like WhatsAppThe financial demands varied from victim to victim Thompson said but the perpetrators would always ask for either cash or money transfers of Canadian dollars or Indian rupees Similar extortion attempts are under investigation by law enforcement in Edmonton the Lower Mainland of British Columbia and several jurisdictions in the US she saidShe said the Peel task force is in touch with police services in all of those locations as well as with the police agencies in IndiaThere is currently no information to suggest that the extortion attempts in Peel are connected to wider Indian organised crime Thompson said adding that such a possibility is being actively investigatedOne of the reasons we are doing this news conference is to put it out there to the community that we are looking for information she said The investigators believe there are likely more victimsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever