Canada’s federal Conservative Party is urging the Mark Carney government to designate the India-based Lawrence Bishnoi gang as a terrorist organisation, warning it is behind a surge of extortion threats and violent attacks targeting the Indian community in Canada.
Conservative Shadow Minister for Public Safety Frank Caputo, a former Crown prosecutor, wrote to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, arguing the Bishnoi gang’s activities meet the legal threshold for a terrorist listing under the Criminal Code.
“They have taken credit for vast violence in Canada and abroad,” Caputo wrote, citing political shootings, extortion of Indian-Canadians and “extreme violence” carried out for political, religious and ideological reasons.
Caputo said such a designation would allow authorities to use financial, criminal and property sanctions to,
“push back against the gang’s reign of terror.”
The call has drawn support from B.C. Premier David Eby, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown and Surrey Mayor Brenda Locke.
Mayor Brown welcomed the Conservative intervention, saying
the Bishnoi gang “can’t be permitted to continue to engage in criminal extortions and executions on Canadian soil with impunity.”
Police in B.C., Alberta and Ontario have linked the Bishnoi gang to threats, shootings and high-profile incidents — including the recent attack on comedian and actor Kapil Sharma’s Surrey café, which the gang claimed responsibility for on social media.
Caputo said the move is essential to protect communities:
“We’re looking at three or four different implications here. One is with respect to property — you can seize the property of a terrorist organisation and its associates.”
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