Extortion activity declining in Surrey as recruiters target international students

After the region was shocked by an explosion of extortion-related activity to start the year, the SPS says it’s hopeful that coordinated efforts across multiple levels of government and law enforcement are finally paying off.

Ten extortion-related shootings reported in January dropped to just one reported in February, and none in the first three weeks of March. But local police say it’s far too soon to declare an end to the crisis.

Surrey Police Service Sergeant Tige Pollock says he’s not sure the end is in sight.

“Only time will tell,” Pollock told CityNews.

Part of the updated strategy to combat extortion includes reaching out to schools and the local community to warn newcomers to Canada about the dangers of getting involved with extortionists.

Pollock says the aim is to explain the possible consequences of taking part.

“Because I’m sure when they speak to a criminal organization, somebody recruiting them, they would tell them there’s no downside: ‘We’ll pay you money and nothing’s going to happen.’ Well, that’s obviously not the truth.”

Community leader Singh Malik says the SPS’s efforts are well placed in post-secondary institutions, where he says international students are being targeted by criminal recruiters.

“They’ve been telling me that recruiters are approaching them and offering them around $10,000 to commit what they’re being told is a victimless crime,” Malik explained.

He says recruiters operate both on the ground in Canada and online from abroad. He says students, desperate for the cash, could be taken in.

“There’s a lot of criminal activity in India, where they say to you, ‘Hey, if you come to Canada, you pay us $10,000, we can get you permanent residency, it’s such a better life,’ and then they come here and they realize that actually wasn’t the case, ‘I’m actually working a dead-end job with tuition way more expensive than what I thought it would be, and I don’t have a path to permanent residency,’ and given that sense of despair that they feel, when someone comes to them and says, ‘Hey, you can do this little quick thing for me and you’ll make a bunch of money,’ that a lot of them feel the pull to do that.”

Singh Malik says he, and the broader community, are sincerely encouraged by the efforts of law enforcement on combating extortion — but there’s still a long road ahead.

“That ability to rebuild trust is something that is going to take years, and is something that we have to start on now, because it’s not enough to say to the community, ‘Oh, you’re safe now.’ You have to be able to demonstrate to the community this will not happen again.”