Number of extortion files balloons from 10 to 26 in just 7 weeks, Surrey police say

CTV News

6 days ago

The number of reported extortion threats has increased to 26, as targeted business owners continue to struggle with fear and uncertainty.
As recently as mid-June, Surrey police said they had received a total of 10 extortion reports from South Asian business owners this year, a figure they believed was significantly lower than the true number of extortion attempts happening in the community.
Sure enough, just seven weeks later, after multiple public appeals for additional victims to come forward, the Surrey Police Service told CTV News on Thursday that it's now up to 26 extortion reports in 2025 so far.
'Those incidents are being investigated by the SPS Extortion Investigation Team,' a spokesperson said in an email.
Satish Kumar is one of the victims. The scars of an extortion-related shooting at his banquet hall in early June are still visible, and he says the extortion calls haven't stopped.
'I got lots after that (shooting),' he told CTV News on Thursday.
'Yesterday, I got an extortion call, too.'
Surrey is far from the only city in Canada where South Asian business owners have been targeted for extortion.
Last year, following reports in Alberta, Ontario and B.C., the RCMP launched a national team to co-ordinate police responses to the threats, at least some of which are believed to have originated in India.
Referencing previous years' incidents, Sgt. Tige Pollock said extortion is 'not a new problem in Surrey,' and said the SPS is doing what it can to address the issue.
'One is one too many, as far as we're concerned,' he said. 'Twenty-six is alarming.'
In June, Crime Stoppers announced it would begin taking tips from extortion victims. Traditionally, the organization does not accept tips from victims of crime, who should be contacting police directly.
The provincial government also recently worked with Crime Stoppers to launch an advertising campaign encouraging extortion victims not to pay criminals and to report the extortion calls they receive.
Conservative MLA Steve Kooner, the Opposition critic for the Attorney General, said the government's efforts have so far been inadequate.
'It is very, very concerning that there isn't much being done on the crisis,' he said. 'Our police services are doing a good job, but the provincial government has been missing.'
On Thursday, he penned an open letter critiquing Attorney General Niki Sharma and the NDP government about the extortion issue.
He's calling for the province to devote more resources to investigating and solving these crimes.
'You can't just leave a community on their own,' he said. 'This is affecting a certain segment of the population that are entrepreneurs and they employ a lot of people in the community … There is just more that can be done.'
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Demetra Maragos