Surrey police said they are investigating 44 extortion cases against residents and business owners, including 27 that involved shootings.
The task force will be led by the RCMP, Nina Krieger, the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General said.
“This comprehensive approach will expand cross-jurisdictional reach, supporting co-ordinated investigations to bring criminals threatening and perpetrating violence in our communities to justice.”
The task force will be made up of 40 members from various policing agencies including the B.C. RCMP, Abbotsford Police Department, Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, B.C. (CFSEU-BC), Delta Police Department, Metro Vancouver Transit Police, Surrey Police Service and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
It will also receive support from law enfocement agencies in other affected provinces, including Alberta and Ontario.
The provincial government is also making $200,000 available through the federal government’s Gun and Gang Violence Action Fund (GGVAF) to help municipal police departments investigate extortion cases.
Surrey police said they are investigating 44 extortion cases against residents and business owners, including 27 that involved shootings.
The threats are primarily targeting members of the South Asian community.
On Monday, the City of Surrey announced a $250,000 reward for any information leading to convictions in these cases.
The fund will offer people with “key information” the ability to collect a reward if they are prepared to work with police to secure charges and convictions for those responsible for the crimes, the city said in a release.
In August, a car wash in Surrey was targeted with gunfire. The owner told Global News it came after recent extortion threats.
Gunfire shattered the windows of the 1313 Car Wash on 84 Avenue near 128 Street. Lovepreet Singh, who has owned the business for about two and a half years, said he’d received a call from an unknown number demanding $50,000 in the days before the incident.
Then, in early September, Surrey police said they believed an early morning shooting in a residential neighbourhood was linked to “an ongoing extortion investigation.”
Police say the shooting happened in the 14300 block of 28 Avenue, in a tree-lined neighbourhood of multimillion-dollar homes on large lots.
Police in the area have been investigating extortion targeting the South Asian business community, with some cases being linked to the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang.
Politicians, including Premier David Eby and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, have urged Ottawa to designate the gang as a terrorist entity.