B.C. homicide investigators lift veil on ‘complexities’ of gang-related investigations

B.C.’s Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) held a press conference Friday to provide insight into the complexities of solving gang-related homicides.

The team used the homicides of Randeep Kang and Jagvir Malhi and its seven-year investigation, E-Prosperity, as a case study to depict how gang-related investigations are conducted and the challenges they pose.

Malhi, a former star basketball player and second-year criminology student at the University of Fraser Valley, was gunned down at the intersection of Simpson and Ross roads around 3:30 p.m. on Nov. 12, 2018.

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Homicide investigators determined that Malhi himself was not involved in any kind of criminality, but that some people he knew were involved in the Lower Mainland gang conflict.

Kang, a 27-year-old known gangster, was shot dead nearly a year prior on Oct. 28, 2017, in the 11300 block of Alpen Place in Surrey.

Homicide investigators provided a timeline of the investigation, depicting how it spanned many regions in Western Canada over seven years.

Tyrel Nguyen, a self-described hitman associated with the Brothers Keepers, was arrested in 2017 and charged with the first-degree murders of Kang and Malhi and two charges of attempted murder.

He was found guilty of those charges. He was sentenced to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years on Thursday.

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IHIT also showed the complexities of dealing with multiple police departments, including municipal and provincial police, and how they all came together to identify and arrest Nguyen.

In total, more than 315 police officers participated in the seven-year investigation.

The presentation was held at the BC RCMP headquarters in Surrey on Friday morning.