Canada has scored the Bishnoi gang of India as a terrorist entity, allowing the federal government to seize goods and freeze money belonging to the country’s group.
The Federal Minister of Public Security announced this decision on Monday, saying that the gang had created a climate of fear and intimidation in the Canadian communities of the diaspora.
Last year, Canadian police alleged that Indian government agents used Bisnoi members to make “homicides, extortion and violent acts” and target supporters of the Pro-Khalistan movement.
India denied allegation at the time, saying that Canada had provided any evidence concerning them.
In addition to giving government the power to freeze or seize goods and money, the new designation gives the police in Canada’s tools to pursue terrorist offenses such as financing, travel and recruitment.
“Specific communities have been targeted for terrorism, violence and intimidation by the Bisnoi gang,” said public security minister Gary Anandasangaree in a statement.
“List this group of criminal terrorists gives us more powerful and effective tools to face and put an end to their crimes.”
Canada describes Gang Bishnoi, led by Lawrence Bisnoi, a 32 -year -old gangster from India that has been behind bars for a decade, as a transnational criminal organization that operates mainly from India.
He says gang is present in Canada and is active in areas with important diaspora communities.
In India, investigators allege that Bishnoi continues to control a gang with 700 members involved in extorted celebrities, smuggling drugs and weapons and carrying out targeted assassinations.
The designation of Canada comes after pressure from the opposition parties and the provincial ministers of Alberta and British Columbia to do so, which said that it would allow the government to push the gang with various sanctions.
This also occurs when the two countries are working to restore ties that have been tense by the murder of a Sikh separatist chief, Hardeep Singh Nijjar, in a suburb of Vancouver in 2023. Shortly after, former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the Indian government of involvement in the fatal shooting.
Nijjar, appointed terrorist in India in 2020, was killed by two armed men outside a Sikh temple. Four men are currently facing charges in murder.
In August, the two countries appointed new high-commissioners.
Then, last week, Prime Minister’s national security advisor Mark Carney told journalists in Ottawa that India was committed to cooperating with Canadian officials in current surveys.
The advisor, Nathalie Drouin, said that she had recently had a productive meeting with Indian officials, where they discussed respective security problems and engaged in non-interference, in particular by abstaining transnational repression.
