Extortion used to be a main means of making money throughout the end of the 20th century that the Mafia would partake in. It dwindled down as the decades went on, but recently, in the Greater Toronto Area, there has been more than a few cases of extortion. Most notably, targeting South-Asian businesses. So much, that the police in the GTA region have concurred a new police task for to combat this increase of extortion cases. The operation titled under Extortion Investigative Task Force.
This resulted from a search warrant that was executed on January 24th of 2024. The search warrant resulted in a seizure of multiple firearms, ammunition, an undisclosed amount of cash money, 11 computers and over 50 cellphones. The fifth suspect involved was a man by the name of Arundeep Thind, who was aged 39 and had no fixed address and was separately charged with extortion, 20 days later, on January 26th,
The leader of this task force is a man by the name of Supt. Shelley Thompson. Thompson declared 29 cases of extortion, nine of which have been involved in shootings that occurred in local business’. Although no injuries have been reported, this remains a serious issue for the GTA police and authorities. Most of these crimes have happened in Brampton, with Brampton’s mayor stating that it is terrorizing the city.
The operation led to five arrests, which Brampton’s mayor states is a big win. Four of the five suspects have been identified as 23 year old Gagat Ajit Singh, Anmoldeep Singh, 23, Hashmeet Kaur, aged 25, and Lymanjot Kaur, aged 21. All these four men are either from Brampton or Mississauga.
The arrests led to individuals using restaurants, bakeries, jewelry stores, car dealership and truck and transporting companies as a means of extorting money for themselves. The perpetrators usually demand cash money or an e-transfer by email. They also accept Indian rupees, all under the threat of violence.
A lot of extortion cases end up unreported to authorities due to the players behind them, causing intimidation and fear.
Mayor Patrick Brown has urged regional authorities to do more about the situation. A Brampton resident, 23 years old, has been charged with two counts of extortion, uttering threats and discharging a firearm, arson and fraud over 5,000$.
