Surrey business owner sounding alarm over ongoing extortion attempts in South Asian community
Posted June 13, 2025 3:01 pm.
Last Updated June 13, 2025 5:50 pm.
A business owner in Surrey says he will be holding a public safety forum this weekend to address the disturbing trend of extortion attempts targeting the South Asian Community.
Satish Kumar, president of Surrey’s Lakshmi Narayan Mandir Temple and owner of Reflections Banquet Hall, says he has been receiving numerous phone messages, some from a number in New Zealand, asking for large sums of money and issuing threats.
“They left a message with me, they had asked me for $2 million,” he told 1130 NewsRadio.
“Initially, three or four months [earlier], the same guy called, calling back again, but I didn’t talk to him then blocked his call.”
In a message, he was told that if he didn’t send the money, his life and the lives of his family would be in danger.
After receiving multiple calls, he answered one of them and had a heated argument with someone who threatened to kill him.
Kumar says he believes a pair of shootings at his Newton business earlier this week are connected to extortion, but the Surrey Police Service (SPS) couldn’t confirm if this was the case.
Police say they’ve had 10 complaints over the last six months of people getting letters, phone calls, or social media messages demanding money under threats of violence. As a result, they have created an extortion investigation team to target these incidents.
Similar extortion threats emerged last year and violence that followed included arsons and shootings, which police in Ontario, Alberta, and B.C. said were linked to organized crime in the Indian state of Punjab.
SPS Chief Norm Lipinski says it’s important to tackle the trend of extortions head-on, but it’s equally important to collaborate with victims and the broader community to deal with it together.
RCMP Chief Supt. Wendy Mehat with the Surrey Provincial Operations Support Unit says they are concerned there may be more victims who have complied with demands and haven’t gone to police.
“We discourage anyone from responding to such demands. Officers are working to prevent these traumatizing situations and to holding those responsible to account.”
Kumar’s forum will be held on Sunday at Reflections Banquet Hall. Police say they plan to attend.
— With files from The Canadian Press.
