Toronto: An Indian-origin suspect has become the latest to be arrested by Canadian police for alleged involvement with the violent cross-border gang “For Brothers”.
The arrest of 22-year-old Safaldeep Singh was announced by the Edmonton Police Service (EPS) on Thursday. Singh was also wanted on Canada-wide warrants related to conspiracy to commit murder and extortion.
He is suspected to have links with “For Brothers” gang, “an organised criminal network linked to shootings and extortion” targeting Indo-Canadian business owners and community members across the Greater Toronto Area in Canada and the United States.
On June 23, he was apprehended and charged with trafficking in property obtained by crime, possession of stolen property and unauthorised possession of a firearm.
He was subsequently transferred to Ontario to face the charges on his Canada-wide warrants.
“We’ve been investigating extortion networks and their multi-jurisdictional linkages in Canada for some time now, and we have established a coordinated approach with a focus on effective intelligence collection, sharing, and enforcement action across provinces,” Staff Sergeant Eric Stewart of EPS’ Investigations Branch, said.
While much of the focus has been on the Lawrence Bishnoi gang when it comes to extortion-related violence in Canada, recent investigations have shown a similar level of threat posed by the Bambiha outfit as well as “For Brothers”, which has emerged in recent times.
In May, as many as 17 Indian-origin youth have been arrested in connection to extortion-related violence in an operation undertaken by Canadian law enforcement along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States.
All 17 were arrested by Peel Regional Police (PRP), which said in a statement that the majority of the individuals “have ties to an international criminal network known as For Brothers”.
Led by the Extortion Task Force, the investigation dismantled a coordinated campaign of intimidation, threats, and escalating violence used to extort local businesses, the release stated. “They are believed to have been active in Brampton, Mississauga, Caledon, and British Columbia, with links to California,” it added.
Those arrested collectively face 106 criminal charges, and were linked to 24 incidents. PRP said 16 violent incidents were linked to For Brothers, including arson and multiple shootings that involved 324 rounds discharged.
A dozen of those arrested were residents of Brampton in the GTA. They were identified as Iqbal Singh Bhagria, 25, Dilawarpreet Singh, 26, Prabhdeep Sohal, 22, Ajaydeep Singh, 29, Jashanpreet Singh, 22, Sukhwinder Singh, 32, Mandeep Singh, 21, Partapbir Ghuman, 22, Navroop Singh, 24, Amritjot Singh, 22, Guneet Guneet, 27 and Mohinder Singh, 30. Two residents of Surrey in British Columbia, Ravinder Singh, 25 and Jashanbir Singh, 21, were among those arrested. The others on the list are Rajan Singh, 28, of Barrie and Akashdeep Singh, 24, of Norval, both in Ontario, and Gautam Gautam, 22, of Manteca, California in the US.
