Toronto: Canada has said it has expelled six Indian officials from the country, even as law enforcement linked New Delhi’s agents to violent crime in the country.
Even as India announced it was withdrawing India’s High Commissioner to Ottawa Sanjay Kumar Verma and five other diplomats and officials from the country, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) said a “multidisciplinary team” had learnt that a “significant amount of information on breadth & depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, in consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada”.
RCMP said organised crime elements were used for this purpose and named the Lawrence Bishnoi group and said they believed it was “connected to agents of India”.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said that there were linked between Indian agents and “violent crime” including homicides and extortion.
RCMP Deputy Commissioner of Federal Policing Mark Flynn had accompanied Canada’s National Security and Intelligence Advisor Nathalie Drouin and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs David Morrison to Singapore where they met, among others, India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and apprised them of these concerns and sought cooperation. “This evidence was presented directly to Government of India officials, urging their cooperation in stemming the violence and requesting our law enforcement agencies work together to address these issues.
The RCMP is hoping to address these threats through our relationship with the Government of India and the National Investigation Agency with the end goal of strengthening the safety and security of the Canadian public and South Asian community,” the RCMP noted.
RCMP added said India was engaged in foreign interference activity. RCMP alleged, “Investigations have revealed that Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada leveraged their official positions to engage in clandestine activities, such as collecting information for the Government of India, either directly or through their proxies; and other individuals who acted voluntarily or through coercion.”
Duheme said, “Over the past few years and more recently, law enforcement agencies in Canada have successfully investigated and charged a significant number of individuals for their direct involvement in homicides, extortions and other criminal acts of violence. In addition, there have been well over a dozen credible imminent threats to life.”
He did not comment on the investigation into the killing of pro-Khalistan figure Hardeep Singh Nijjar on June 18 last year in Surrey, British Columbia, related to which Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stated in the House of Commons three months later that there were “credible allegations” of a potential link between Indian agents and the murder. India described those allegations as “absurd” and “motivated”.
RCMP said charges related to these matters had been laid in the courts and added there were eight instances of homicide and at least 22 of extortion. Some of these, they said, had links to the Indian government.
A statement from the RCMP said, “There is a violent extremism threat in Canada that Canada and India have been working on over the years. However, these threats are impacting Canada and India’s ability to collaborate.”
RCMP said the targets were pro-Khalistan elements.
It said that through its national taskforce and other investigative efforts, the RCMP obtained evidence that demonstrates four very serious issues: Violent extremism impacting both countries; Links tying agents of the Government of India to homicides and violent acts; the use of organised crime to create a perception of an unsafe environment targeting the South Asian Community in Canada; and interference into democratic processes.
