Peel Police arrest members of criminal ring targeting South Asian community; B.C. Premier wants Indian gang listed as terrorist group

Nearly a year ago, Peel Regional Police alongside other GTA law enforcement agencies and the Canada Border Services Agency began investigating a criminal organization with ties to Brampton that was targeting and exploiting South Asian-owned businesses. 

On Monday, surrounded by seized guns, trucks and cash, Peel Police announced the arrests of 18 individuals with ties to this criminal enterprise and the 97 charges they now face, including fraud, illegal possession of firearms and violent extortion.

Brian Lorette, a Detective Sergeant with Peel Police and the lead investigator of the operation, dubbed Project Outsource, said the force seized $4.2 million in assets, including 18 tow trucks, four high-end personal vehicles, six firearms, 600 rounds of ammunition and recovered five stolen vehicles.

"Our investigators identified a specific Brampton-based group believed to be behind a significant portion of these crimes, as well as offences in the towing industry," he said. "We believe the guns and tow trucks seized during this investigation, as well as the arrests made, will have a significant impact on our region, as well as across the GTA and throughout Canada." Lorette said more arrests could happen in the coming days as the investigation is ongoing. 

Among the seized assets were two bulletproof police vests, and various weapons including a crossbow, a taser and baseball bats.

According to population projections using Census data, there are approximately 1.6 million residents currently living in Peel and as of 2021, 52 percent of Brampton’s population was of South Asian descent.

According to Peel Police, the criminal group was led by two individuals, Inderjit Dhami, 38, and Paritosh Chopra, 32, who were instructing their criminal counterparts to demand large sums from business owners and their families through intimidation. The group were also involved in tow truck related offences such as car theft and fake accident claims. Peel Police did not provide any further details about the tactics used during these extortion attempts or how many businesses or individuals were impacted. 

"This was a crime group who attempted to extort hundreds of thousands of dollars from our community with threats and also engaged in tow-industry-related violence and crimes like fraud," Nick Milinovich, Deputy Chief of Investigations and Emergency Services for Peel Police, said.

Although Lorette didn’t disclose the particular details of these staged collisions and how they usually escalate, he said such incidents are premeditated, and are part of a strategy to generate finances for organized criminal enterprises.

"So I won't get into the specifics of our cases, but I can tell you that staged collisions are fraudulent in every aspect. They start at the planning stage," he added.

"These are collisions that are often happening on our roadways, which obviously have a public safety impact, sometimes including police, ambulance and fire attending the scene, and they continue the fraud all the way through the reporting and then through the insurance industry to reap the material benefits of the fraud."

Brampton advocates have long lamented the exorbitant auto insurance rates the city’s residents have to pay, sometimes triple the amount that car owners in neighbouring municipalities are charged. This is largely due to excessive insurance fraud in the city.

Just over six months prior to the launch of Project Outsource in July last year, Peel Regional Police had taken steps to respond to what officials described as a “disturbing trend of extortion attempts” targeting the South Asian business community. 

In December 2023, Peel Police launched an Extortion Investigative Task Force and urged Peel residents and business owners to contact them if they are being threatened. 

“Suspects are using social media platforms to contact victims and perform these illegal acts. They often know the victim’s name, phone number, address and business information,” according to a press release from 2023. 

The investigative team was officially launched after a 23-year-old from Abbotsford, BC was arrested for firing multiple rounds into a business establishment near Rutherford Road South and Clark Boulevard in Brampton in December that year. 

“This has caused grave safety and security concerns among our community members,” Chief Nishan Duraiappah stated in a press release. “Terrorizing our residents will not be tolerated and Peel Regional Police will devote the resources to pursue those who are responsible.”

Two months later, Peel Police announced the arrest of four individuals—3 from Brampton, 1 from Mississauga—in connection to extortion attempts across the GTA. 

Acknowledging the scale of this growing problem—the police were investigating 29 different extortion attempts at the time—Chief Duraiappah said there could be more victims, and again urged community members and business owners to come forward to police with any concerns. 

In April, the task force responded after a business in the area of Queen Street and Kennedy Road South in Brampton was shot at. That investigation led to the arrest of three men from Brampton. 

Along with Dhami and Chopra, the ringleaders identified as part of Project Outsource, 15 other men from Brampton—10 are in their 20s—were arrested along with a 37-year-old woman from King City. 

Those arrested as part of Project Outsource.

(Peel Regional Police)

There have been reports in recent years of criminal gangs operating in Canada with direct links to organized crime in India.

"As far as the international ties go, we know that some of these offences have been done in the name of international ties, but Project Outsource has yet to reveal a direct link between these international ties and the persons arrested in our case," Lorette said.

When asked during the presser whether this criminal ring specifically targeted one community, Durraiapah confirmed that the extortion network had focused its operations on the South Asian business community, mirroring the tactics used by criminals in other areas with dense pockets of the South Asian diaspora. 

"What makes this region vibrant and as beautiful as it is, is the diversity that it brings, but it also has drawn criminal organizations to seek that as a vulnerability,” he said. “I think as police organizations, not just the task force, have been stitched together with Edmonton and the Lower Mainland of B.C., but we've even had conversations with Sacramento, California, that the type of extortion is modeled and replicated in a way that exploits vulnerable communities. In this case, they were targeting the South Asian community."

Each of the jurisdictions he mentioned have large Punjabi communities, including Sacramento and its surrounding  areas where Sikhs have had a large presence for decades. Brampton has seen a similar demographic trend over the past thirty years, with Sikh Punjabis settling in the area in large numbers and making up the largest segment of the city’s broader South Asian community. Many are now being targeted by organized criminals. 

Peel Police confirmed that of the 18 arrested, 15 were held for bail hearings. As of Monday, seven had appeared before a Justice of the Peace. Six were released on bail while one remains in custody.

While Peel police made it clear that the arrests did not involve any evidence of a direct tie to India, groups in that country have reportedly claimed responsibility for targeting South Asians in Canada.

On Tuesday, the World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) lauded B.C. Premier David Eby’s decision to request the federal government to add the Lawrence Bishnoi network—linked to the Indian government according to evidence publicly provided by the RCMP—to Canada’s list of terrorist entities.

In a press release by the WSO Tuesday, the organization made connections between organized crime in Canada and groups in India that have allegedly been responsible for targeting South Asian communities here.

“Canadian law enforcement and intelligence agencies have linked the Bishnoi gang to assassinations, extortions, and intimidation carried out at the direction of Indian government agents including the 2023 murder of Canadian Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar and other violent crimes.”  

Global News recently reported that an Indian government agent connected to the Bishnoi gang was surveilling former federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh.

“Canada’s National Security Adviser Nathalie Drouin has testified before parliamentarians that India collected intelligence on Sikhs in Canada through diplomatic channels and proxies, then passed it to Indian authorities who worked with the Lawrence Bishnoi gang.  The Bishnoi gang most recently took responsibility for the May 14, 2025 murder of a Sikh businessman in Mississauga,” the WSO reported in its press release. 

“Senior Canadian officials have also confirmed that India’s Home Minister Amit Shah personally ordered the campaign of violence and intelligence-gathering against Sikh activists in Canada. Shah is widely considered Prime Minister Modi’s right-hand man.”

The Pointer has reported that the RCMP working with local law enforcement has issued Duty to Warn notices to Sikhs, including some in Brampton, advising specific individuals to be cautious as they might be the target of criminal networks with ties to the Indian government.

Former prime minister Justin Trudeau did not hide his anger after the RCMP announced evidence connecting India’s government to the harassment and intimidation of Sikh Canadians. 

“We are not looking to provoke or create a fight with India,” Trudeau said in October. “The Indian government made a horrific mistake in thinking that they could interfere as aggressively as they did in the safety and sovereignty of Canada. We need to respond in order to ensure Canadians’ safety.” He said, “we had clear and certainly now ever clearer indications that India had violated Canada’s sovereignty”.

The news that Peel police have arrested members of a criminal network targeting the South Asian community in the region, comes after Trudeau expressed concern for Canadians last year.

“The decision by the RCMP to go forward with that announcement was entirely anchored in public safety and a goal of disrupting the chain of activities that was resulting in drive-by shootings, home invasions, violent extortion and even murder in and across Canada,” Trudeau said.

The WSO stressed in its press release Tuesday that maintaining a relationship with a country allegedly connected to criminal activity in Canada, should not put residents here in harm’s way. 

“Diplomatic photo-ops must not come at the expense of justice for Canadian victims or the safety of Sikh Canadians. We would like to see concrete steps follow this meeting to hold India accountable for its interference and criminal activities in Canada.”

Peel police has not made any connection between its arrests and possible connections to India.

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