Despite lull in Surrey extortion shootings, police not slowing down

Surrey didn’t record a single extortion-related shooting from August through October, the longest stretch the city has gone without one since the issue first ramped up in summer 2025.

While police are encouraged by the lull, they say now isn’t the time to slow down their efforts in combating the years-long issue.

“Obviously we’re pleased. It’s not something that we can sort of relish in respect to standing down what we’ve done. We think of it more as evidence that what we’re doing needs to be continued because it seems to be taking hold and producing some results,” said Ian MacDonald, media liaison officer with the Surrey police.

“At least the most overt and dangerous component, the shootings, seem to have been quelled, but that is not an indication to us that the work is done.”

Extortion-related violence peaked in January. That month, police recorded 44 extortion threats and 10 of those cases involved shootings. Many of the shots-fired incidents occurred within days of each other.

After that, reported shootings died down and then stopped in August until now.

MacDonald credited the drop to a group effort between local police, provincial task force members and federal authorities, as well as residents who came forward as witnesses and victims.

Many suspects have faced “real consequences,” MacDonald said. He noted that, as of Sept. 14, the Canada Border Services Agency had issued 188 removal orders and deported 111 individuals related to extortion cases.

However, some victims are still being targeted, even after the suspects in their cases have been arrested or removed from the country, MacDonald said.

“The fact that we have the same victims for many of these offences is demonstrating that many of these investigations are ongoing,” MacDonald said. “I can think of specific examples of cases where we’ve actually got to charges, or we’ve got to, let’s say, a CBSA removal, and the business or the victim has once again been the recipient of an extortion demand. So the question becomes: ‘Is it connected to the original ones? Is it a copycat? Is it another group or entity?’ ”

Because of that challenge, MacDonald says that even cases that seem to be closed often are not: “I would say all extortion investigations are, in some ways, still under investigation. That’s why we have to keep our foot on the gas.”

Since the beginning, there’s been a false perception that the extortion crisis has only impacted Punjabi-Canadian business owners in Surrey, either at both their business locations or at residences they own, MacDonald said.

However, the crime impacts more than just one group, he said.

“Let’s say a business is targeted. It’s all the employees that work there, as well. And I think that’s something that sometimes gets missed. Or if you live in the neighbourhood and a residence is targeted. If you happen to be an employee or maybe you’re a supplier to the business or the security guard. So that’s where I don’t paint the, ‘It’s all South Asian’ brush,” he said.

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 147 threats of extortion have been reported to Surrey police. Of those cases, 21 involved shootings.

In 2025, 49 out of 133 extortion cases reported to police involved shootings.