Recruiters offering $10,000 to students to carry out extortion crimes, Surrey community leader says

In January, Surrey had 10 extortion-related shootings, and one in February. So far in March, Surrey hasn’t had any extortion-related shootings. As far as individuals being threatened with extortion, March has had four cases as of Monday, police statistics show.

Malik has been pleased with recent work by police to do outreach with international students in Surrey.

“They’re doing some work at Douglas College and KPU (Kwantlen Polytechnic University) and really saying to people, ‘You shouldn’t be doing this. Your family has sacrificed so much to bring you here. Don’t let them down.’ And just anecdotally, we see that that’s working,” Malik said.

Surrey Police Chief Norm Lipinski commented on that a recent police board meeting, saying there is a focus now on preventing more extortions and related shootings that have been targeting Punjabi Canadian business owners for the last few years.

“We are now looking to reach out to those that are vulnerable to be recruited into this criminal lifestyle and we’re just starting with that. We’re looking at the international students that are here at some of the post-secondary institutions,” Lipinski said.