WARMINGTON: Extortion by bullet has families wondering if Canada is still for them

· Toronto Sun

These victims of extortion are so afraid of criminals from India operating in Canada that they will only talk if their face and voice are altered to be unrecognizable.

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Even before they shoot up your house comes the terror of the threatening phone call saying if you don’t pay them, they’ll riddle your residence with bullets while you are asleep.

It makes it hard to sleep. They mean business.

“This is standard, first they call you and then they shoot at the house, and then they call you again and intimidate with great fear. That’s the usual practice,” said a man who has experienced this kind of extortion horror – and the gunshots at his house – and did not want to be identified.

“I don’t think I moved to this country to be threatened and live in fear,” he added.

But fear is his reality.

The man, his wife and their kids had to duck for cover as the bullets came raining in from a car driving by his house. He showed us the bullet holes but didn’t want to have those images published in case the criminals recognized their handiwork and decided to do more damage.

It’s like a bad dream that doesn’t end.

Even after the announcement of the 17 arrests by Peel Regional Police on Monday, one of the victims said he still got an extortion phone call.

For a man with a family being told they must pay criminals or be shot, it isn’t what he expected to face when coming here to chase the Canadian dream.

It has become a nightmare.

Turns out 12 of the accused in the recent bust are already out on bail.

“Nothing has changed yet. Overall, people are still dealing with the same problems,” the victim said. “There (will be) more shooting incidents across the GTA and across Canada as well. It’s a chronic problem.”

He said his family feels “very threatened now. You sleep with a lot of fear at night.”

When morning comes he asks, “Is it safe on the road? Am I okay to go to work? Are my kids okay to go to school? It’s in engulfing people with so much fear that they’re having a lot of sleepless nights.”

He agreed to do be interviewed “because I think it’s important to help police stop this.” But he admitted, “we are scared.”

He came to Canada from India, became a Canadian citizen and created a successful company that employees many – it should be a success story.

“When bullets are shot at your house it’s always terrifying. You don’t know who you’re dealing with or who’s shooting at your house. It’s hard. It’s very tough, but that’s happening across the board with every family. It’s not just me alone. It’s a lot of different families have the same problem.”

In fact, he claims “every second businessman across Canada of South Asian descent” fears being “targeted by the extortion people.”

Police enforcement stepped up

Police have stepped up their enforcement.

“There are repeat victims and the cases are still being investigated,” said Peel Regional Police Det.-Sgt. Brian Lorette, the officer in charge. “We do anticipate more arrests and charges in the near future.”

Arresting them is the only way. That and sending them out of the country.

“If you arrest the people and they have no status in Canada, they should be deported immediately,” the victim said. “Why should we put money and resources on those people which are costing the system, the people and the taxpayers just to keep them here? We don’t have to waste time on them.”

If Canada doesn’t get tough, “they’re not going to stop calling people” the man said. “It’s a means of easy money. Why would they stop doing it if they don’t have proper laws enforcement in place to track these people.”

He has some advice for the government on how to deal with it. And it starts but toughening up the border and not treating international criminals lightly.

He said while many think this is only a concern in the Indian-Canadian community, he warns “this is going to be a Canadian problem sooner or later,” which “won’t be isolated to one particular community because everybody learns quickly from other crimes.”

Word gets out around the world.

“Canada is a destination like a criminal vacation spot now,” he said, adding some of “those people were coming in as a tourist.”

“It’s a criminal’s haven in terms of the laws that are here,” he said. “It’s the best place to do crime and walk away from it and still do it again and walk away free again.”

New laws needed

While he believes the police and governments are “working hard,” there are new laws needed to let detectives access communications devices faster than the 45 days they need now to get a warrant.

This is why Peel Regional Police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich testified before parliament last week to lobby for new tools in Bill C-22 that would give police more “timely” access to electronic devices while still respecting the charter.

Milinovich said the extortion case that took seven months could been done quicker with easier ability to obtain evidence on suspects’ phones and computers.

But the extortion victim who spoke to the Sun believes citizens may also need to be able to carry their own guns.

“I strongly believe that citizens should be able to defend themselves,” he said. “Why are we empowering criminals to hit on the citizens and they can’t defend themselves. I can’t have armed security in front of my house. I can’t carry a gun because the law prohibits me to do it. This gives leverage to other people to do whatever they want because they are criminals.”

He also thinks there should be more jails .

“We are too slow to respond. The criminal world has changed and the crime has changed,” he said. “We know there’s a problem (but) we refuse to (fix) it because there’s no political will to do it.”

If they don’t fix it, many law-abiding businesspeople won’t stick around.

“If people don’t feel safe in the community, a lot of the workforce … is going to leave Canada,” he said. “There’s already reverse immigration going on. We are losing a lot of good (Canadian) people.”

All thanks to criminals who are not even Canadian.

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