Federal Conservatives call for terror label on India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang

The federal Conservative party has joined the chorus of voices calling for the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang to be added to Canada’s list of terrorist organizations.

The gang is suspected to be behind the surge of extortion threats in B.C., Alberta and Ontario that have terrified the South Asian community.

It has also claimed responsibility on social media for shooting at buildings, including the recent attack on Bollywood star Kapil Sharma’s cafe in Surrey, B.C.

2:02 B.C. premier wants Ottawa to declare Indian gang a terrorist organization

Sources have told Global News the Bishnoi gang is also believed to be linked to the murder of Surrey Gurdwara president and Khalistan independence activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

“Given the terror that they are imposing on the South Asian community, with South Asian Canadians, they do meet the criminal code definition of a terrorist organization,” Conservative public safety critic and Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo Frank Caputo told Global News.

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B.C. Premier David Eby and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, along with the mayors of Surrey and Brampton, have already called on Ottawa to designate the gang a terrorist organization.

2:01 Federal Conservatives want Bishnoi gang added to the list of designated terrorist groups

Caputo, a former Crown prosecutor, said putting the gang on the list would give law enforcement new tools to crack down on its activities.

“We’re looking at three or four different implications here. One is with respect to property, you can seize the property of a terrorist organization and its associates,” he said.

“Financially, banks can then start freezing accounts and financial transactions. Criminal law, you’re liable to a greater punishment; you are liable to punishment simply by virtue of participating in a terrorist organization. And then lastly, law enforcement will have access to additional resources.”

India’s counterterrorism law enforcement agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), describes the group as a criminal gang headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, whose lawyer says he contests more than 40 cases accusing him of crimes such as murder and extortion.

5:32 Growing calls to label Bishnoi gang a terrorist group

The NIA alleges he operates his “terror-syndicate from jails in different states” in India and through an associate in Canada.