A longtime MP in Surrey is calling on the B.C. government to unify all extortion investigations under the province’s organized crime policing agency.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada.

• Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account.
• Get exclusive access to the Vancouver Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on.
• Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists.
• Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists.
• Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account.
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.
• Enjoy additional articles per month.
• Get email updates from your favourite authors.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

• Access articles from across Canada with one account
• Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments
• Enjoy additional articles per month
• Get email updates from your favourite authors

Sign In or Create an Account

or View more offers

In a letter sent to Premier David Eby in October and obtained by Postmedia through a freedom-of-information request, Sukh Dhaliwal, MP for Surrey-Newton, urged the province to formally mandate the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit to assume “primary responsibility” for the investigations.

Who’s in charge of investigating extortion cases? Surrey MP wants B.C. to designate this agency Back to video

“This situation has reached a crisis point,” he wrote. “Business owners are being forced to close their doors or comply with extortion demands out of fear for their lives and families. The psychological and economic toll on Surrey’s business community is beyond anything I’ve seen, and public confidence in our institutions is being shaken.”

CFSEU brings together resources from 14 police agencies across the province, “making it the most capable unit to address the organized and transnational nature of this threat,” the letter went on to say.

“It is clear that this issue exceeds the capacity of local agencies,” Dhaliwal added.

In an interview this week, Dhaliwal said he is still waiting for the province to act on his recommendation, which he called “an immediate solution.”

“The suggestion that I got from the ground was to make sure that this whole file of extortions is assigned to them because they have 400 uniformed officers and also 100 support staff,” Dhaliwal told Postmedia.

“I wrote a letter to the premier, I wrote a letter to the public safety minister. My B.C. caucus wholeheartedly supported me on this and wrote letters and it’s my understanding that the prime minister had discussions and asked the premier for this when he was there.”

1. Advertisement 1

   Story continues below

   This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.

Task forces have been created within the police departments of Surrey and Abbotsford, another centre of extortion shootings.

The province has also created a B.C. extortion task force comprised of many local, provincial and national agencies. For example, the Surrey Police Service has provided 15 officers and the Abbotsford Police Department two officers on the B.C. task force led by the RCMP.

But Kash Heed, a former B.C. solicitor-general and ex-West Vancouver police chief, said putting the CFSEU in charge of the extortion investigations is not the answer.

What is needed is a unified approach where one agency leads the investigations, not investigations carried out by the RCMP, and police forces in Surrey and Abbotsford.

“You will never get ahead of this problem when you have it so balkanized. It needs to be brought under one umbrella, and it needs to be brought under the federal authority,” said Heed.

He said one also has to look at the successes and failures of the CFSEU.

In 2023, a critical 123-page report commissioned by the B.C. Public Safety Ministry said the CFSEU “is neither effective in suppressing gang violence and organized crime nor is it providing the province with an adequate return on investment.”

Extortion threats and retaliatory shootings for not complying with the demands for money continue to hit Punjabi Canadian businesses. The crimes in B.C., and specifically Surrey, have not slowed down, with the local police department investigating more than 200 total cases — 51 of them just from the start of 2026.

In the cases so far this year, 11 have involved shootings, and two have involved arsons. A total of 29 victims have been targeted, with 17 of them repeat ones.

Dhaliwal said CFSEU should still be the primary agency leading the investigations as it is the province’s largest police force dedicated to investigating organized crime. The agency can also receive support from the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team and the Canada Border Services Agency, he said.

The RCMP has said the CBSA is an integral part of the B.C. task force and it is also working with the national enforcement team.

RCMP officials with the B.C. task force did not immediately respond to questions Friday on whether they were aware of Dhaliwal’s letter to the premier and on how many officers are seconded to the task force.

Dhaliwal said he got the idea after speaking with several former law enforcement officers.

“The immediate solution is making sure that on the ground, we have the resources to catch these criminals,” Dhaliwal said.

A spokesperson for CFSEU said the department is aware of Dhaliwal’s wishes, but stopped short of expressing support for the idea.

“CFSEU-B. C. is currently part of the B.C. RCMP extortion joint task force and is providing significant investigative and intelligence support to all partner agencies involved,” the agency stated.

The premier’s office did not respond to Postmedia’s request for comment by deadline. Meanwhile, Surrey police would not directly comment on Dhaliwal’s suggestion, only stating the department is focused on building up its own resources.

“The SPS has been in discussions with the province and our policing partners for several months on resourcing plans and strategies to combat the extortion crisis,” Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton said. “As we have spoken about publicly several times in recent months, we have been in discussions with the province to request additional resources and support for SPS specifically.”

Some of the resources SPS is requesting have been made public, such as a dedicated helicopter for the city at night, But the department has declined to reveal others, stating they needed to remain secret.

“In Surrey, we have the Surrey police, but it will take time for them to establish whether it is an investigative power, whether it’s a surveillance power, whether it’s forensic evidence or dealing with national or transnational crimes,” Dhaliwal said.

“But this (extortion) is an organized crime by gangsters and in British Columbia we already have a force in place for that and that is the CFSEU.”

Dhaliwal said in his letter there is growing evidence that points to the Lawrence Bishnoi gang — a criminal network based in India designated formally as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government last year — having a role in the extortion cases. That underscores the need for federal-provincial co-ordination, he said.

“People are scared, businesses are scared. It’s affecting businesses, it’s affecting their mental health so this is a very serious issue. They’re looking for security,” Dhaliwal said.

With files from Gordon Hoekstra

smoman@postmedia.com