For months, Abbotsford, B.C., businessman Jas Arora had been getting phone calls from strangers — people demanding money and threatening his family if he didn’t pay up. But the threats became real this August when his son woke him late one night, saying someone was throwing things at the house.
Arora raced outside, where he was overwhelmed by the smell of gasoline and found the driveway covered in broken glass.
“My wife said, ‘No, no, go inside right away … Please, shut down the lights and call the police immediately.’ “
So he did. When he checked the footage from his surveillance camera he saw grainy video of a man dressed in dark clothes hurling bottles at the house from outside the iron gate surrounding his home.
As Arora was talking to the police at his house, his phone rang. A man speaking in Punjabi demanded money and told Arora he had 72 hours to pay up — or they would kill him.
WATCH | Surveillance footage of Jas Arora’s Abbotsford, B.C. home:
Arora’s story is one of dozens of cases of attempted extortion and subsequent acts of violence against those in the South Asian community being investigated in Canada, with police suggesting many more have gone unreported. Then, last month, the RCMP held a news conference, accusing agents of the Indian government of orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation here. Soon after, six Indian diplomats were expelled from the country
While Arora and others caught up in the extortion attempts are encouraged by these announcements, they can’t help but worry that it may be too soon to let their guard down after the threats and violence wreaked such havoc on their lives.
‘Don’t keep your family at home’
Arora owns Highway King Transport, a trucking company headquartered in Abbotsford, B.C., with more than 300 trucks, and satellite offices in Calgary and India.
The first threat came in March 2023 in the form of an in-person warning from a man Arora knew through his business.
He says the man told him he was delivering a message from people who wanted $2,000,000. If Arora didn’t hand it over, the man said they would kidnap and kill him.
Arora says he contacted the police right away.
Then in May 2023, somebody called Arora on WhatsApp demanding $1,000,000. He says the man spoke in Punjabi and threatened to kill him, warning: “When we shoot, don’t keep your family at home.”
Arora again reported the threats to the police. But the calls kept coming. When he stopped answering his phone, they started calling his wife.
WATCH | RCMP say not paying extortion demands is key:
Taking no chances
Arora invited CBC News to his Abbotsford home in September, where he demonstrated the extra security he’s installed, including more lights and cameras. He noted that when he spoke to police about his case three weeks earlier, they told him they had no updates. Arora says he’s stopped going to the gym and public events and now has a German shepherd guarding the house.
He fought back tears while discussing the plans he’s made in case someone comes to the house looking for him, including how he’s told his family to hide and be quiet if that happens.
The threats have also impacted Arora’s 18-year-old son, Devon, who feels he has to look over his shoulder and constantly asks himself things like, “Where am I going? Is it safe here? Am I hanging out with the right people?”
Devon graduated from high school in June, and though he initially wanted to get a job at his dad’s company, the threats have changed those plans.
Arora says the first extortion threat he received came in March 2023 from a man he knew through his trucking business. He says he reported it to police, but the threats and demands for money kept coming. (Sohrab Sandhu/CBC )
Arora says he doesn’t want his sons going into the trucking business.
“They are not dealing with the people I have to deal with,” he said.
All along, Arora has refused to hand over any money to the people who’ve been threatening him, even though his family has sometimes suggested it might be easier to simply pay.
“I don’t feel like paying someone,” he said. “It’s hard earned money.”
LISTEN | The Current digs into the wave of extortions impacting the South Asian community:
Instead, Arora decided to speak out and tell his story publicly at a July forum hosted by the Canadian Trucking Association of B.C.
About 200 people attended and he says after he spoke, some approached him.
“Many people, not one person,” Arora said. “And I was surprised when they told me this happened with them, too.”
Vijay Saini hosts a radio talk show at Connect 91.5 fm, a Punjabi-language station based in Surrey, B.C. He says he’s heard many similar stories about extortions over the last year and a half from people who call into his show. (Darshdeep Singh)
Frustration with investigations
Vijay Saini has heard lots of similar stories about extortions over the last year and a half. He hosts a radio talk show at Connect 91.5 fm, a Punjabi-language station based in Surrey.
Whenever he thinks the issue has died down, Saini gets another call like the one in late September, when a Calgary man told his story of being threatened and having shots fired at his house.
He says callers generally seem to feel that Canada has become a safe haven for people who “unabashedly” and “brazenly” commit crimes because the legal system here is too weak.
“It’s almost like they don’t fear the law,” he said.
But he notes that the politicians and police he’s had on his show seem to know how serious the situation is.
“And that is reflected in their words,” Saini said. “But sometimes, it feels that those are empty words.”
WATCH | RCMP commissioner says strong evidence links Indian agents to violence here:
Connecting the dots
RCMP Superintendent Adam MacIntosh, who heads the RCMP’s National Coordination and Support Team, which was formed in February to help co-ordinate evidence, says he understands the frustration, but says investigations that involve organized crime and sophisticated technology take time.
“We are a rule of law country. We can’t just go violate people’s rights. We have to go through a process to obtain information and evidence,” MacIntosh said, noting that the volume and location of the threats indicates that it’s a Canada-wide problem.
“It’s not just one person,” he said. “It’s all over.”
Surrey RCMP say they’re investigating 19 reports of extortion and related attacks since November 2023. Police in Abbotsford, where Arora lives, refused to divulge how many cases they’re investigating. There have been no charges laid in B.C. in connection with any of the extortion cases.
From left, Edmonton police Chief Dale McFee, RCMP Superintendent Adam MacIntosh and EPS Acting Inspector Dave Paton speak to media on July 26 about the Canada-wide arrest warrants for Maninder Singh Dhaliwal, the man police accused of orchestrating extortions targeting the city’s South Asian community. (Stephen Cook/CBC)
In July, Alberta police said they were investigating 40 reports of extortion involving the South Asian community. Six people, all in their teens and early 20s, were arrested in Edmonton. Canada-wide arrest warrants were issued for Maninder Singh Dhaliwal, the 34-year-old man police believe orchestrated the Edmonton extortions. In all, 54 charges have been laid there.
Police officers escort Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, right, inside a courthouse in New Delhi, on April 18, 2023. RCMP said in October that they believe a gang run by Bishnoi, who’s been jailed since 2015, is ‘connected to agents of the government of India.’ (Rahul Singh/ANI/Reuters)
In Ontario’s Peel region, five people have been arrested and charged in connection with extortions there.
Then, during that explosive October news conference, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme announced the force had evidence linking the extortions in Canada to six Indian diplomats, who were expelled from the country by the federal government. India denied the allegations and swiftly expelled six Canadian diplomats in retaliation.
At the same news conference, Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin said investigators believe the Bishnoi gang is “connected to agents of the government of India.”
The gang is named for Lawrence Bishnoi, an Indian gangster who’s been jailed since 2015. Indian investigators believe he controls the gang from behind bars and has associates in Canada engaging in criminal activities here on his behalf.
In the extortion threat Arora received in August, he says the caller told him Lawrence was the one who wanted the money. Arora took that to mean Lawrence Bishnoi.
A wary respite
Duheme, the RCMP commissioner, said during a recent interview on CBC’s Power & Politics, that since the force went public with its allegations, he believes the threat to South Asian communities has decreased.
But Saini, the radio host, says that because it’s only been a few weeks since the RCMP announcement, it’s too early to tell if they’ve been able to completely disrupt the criminal network.
LISTEN | Police allege Lawrence Bishnoi is behind criminal gang activity:
“We have had these periods of lull before,” he said. “If it does not happen for three months, then we can say it had an effect.”
Arora says he hasn’t received any threatening phone calls for two months and has also noticed more vigilant police patrols around his home and business.
Though some of his questions have been answered since federal officials linked the extortions to foreign interference, he says Canada needs to learn from this and better scrutinize immigrants coming here who may have ties to organized crime in other countries.
“It doesn’t matter how much we blame the Indian government or India,” Arora said. “It’s our country’s problem.”