A Surrey business owner says his business was shot at early Thursday morning, about 24 hours after a previous incident.
Raghbir Singh Nijjar, owner of Nijjar Trucking, which is in an industrial area in northwest Surrey, said someone shot at the building and the company cars parked in the lot.
When Surrey Police Service officers arrived on the scene, they found bullet casings.
No one was injured, even though staff were inside when the shooting happened, but the shooting happened just under 24 hours after vehicles were damaged at the same location.
On Wednesday, June 18, at approximately 3:50 a.m., suspects used gasoline to damage vehicles but were scared off by on-site security. SPS officers arrived on scene and gathered evidence from this incident as well.
Nijjar said that about a year ago, someone called his business and demanded money for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) describes the group as a criminal gang headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, whose lawyer says contests more than 40 cases accusing him of crimes such as murder and extortion.
Get daily National news
Nijjar said they have reported everything to RCMP and Surrey police while the people have kept calling and asking for money.
He said he is scared of what is going on.
“We (are) working every day,” he added.
“We (are doing) hard work. We (have been here) since ’91. That’s why we came over here (for) safety and (a) better future.”
Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton with the Surrey Police Service would not confirm on Thursday that these incidents are linked to extortion.
“Well, we’ll be looking at all of the motives and all potential links, whether it’s to past investigations and this current investigation, as with any investigation, we have to let the evidence dictate the course of that investigation,” he said.
“It may turn out that it is related to previous investigations or previous incidents, but we have to let the investigation take its course.”
This incident comes after a home in Maple Ridge was shot at twice in what is believed to be linked to an extortion attempt and last week, the brazen murder of an Abbotsford man with no known criminal ties reignited extortion fears in B.C.’s Lower Mainland.
In this case, SPS’s Frontline Investigative Support Team (FLIST) has assumed conduct of both investigations.
Anyone with information about this incident should contact the SPS non-emergency line at 604-599-0502 and quote file number 25-50413 (SP) or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca.
Comments