Big difference in the number of extortion cases in various cities in the Lower Mainland

The number of extortion incidents occurring in B.C. in 2025 is staggering, and the number of arrests or charges in the cases is disappointing.

Connect FM gathered data on extortion in several major jurisdictions in B.C.'s Lower Mainland.

The number of extortion cases targeting businesses or people associated with the Indo-Canadian community in Surrey has reached 81 as of November 3 of this year. There were 42 extortion cases where shooting incidents took place. In this, information about the addition of 28 extortion files has come to light in the just month of October alone.

Surrey Police Service told Connect FM that of the 42 shooting incidents, 35 were unique, meaning seven were cases where a business or individual was targeted on multiple occasions.

However, fortunately, no lives have been lost in Surrey in these extortion-related cases.

Multiple arrests have been reported in extortion cases in Surrey, with charges approved by the BC Prosecution Service against three individuals.

Sgt. Tige Pollock from SPS said, “In Surrey these cases have been everywhere and the incidents are not focused on a certain area of the city.” He added, “there have been number of scenarios where people were arrested and then released pending investigations, unfortunately this exact number cannot be shared but there are three individuals who are facing charges related to extortion cases.”

Apart from Surrey, the second most affected jurisdiction in the information available to Connect FM regarding extortions is Abbotsford. The number of extortion files in Abbotsford from November 2023 to October 10, 2025 is reported to be 42.

However, Sgt. Paul Walker from Abbotsford Police said there were seven instances where violence occurred. Of the 42 extortion cases, seven involved gunfire and three of these involved arson.

Although there have been no arrests and no charges have been filed in the extortion cases in Abbotsford. Also, just like in Surrey, no lives have been lost in these extortion cases in Abbotsford, according to the information provided by Abbotsford Police Department.

Connect FM did not limit its investigation to just Surrey and Abbotsford.

Connect FM reached out to 8 other jurisdictions to understand the extortion cases near Surrey, as well as understanding the cases in some large areas by population.

In the city of Delta, adjacent to Surrey, the number of extortion cases targeting the Indo-Canadian community in 2025 was reported to be 4, and one of these cases involved a shooting.

However, at the same time, Connect FM also got information about such cases in Vancouver, New Westminster and Burnaby.

Surprisingly, Cst. Tania Visintin from the Vancouver Police Department said, “the number of commonly occurring extortion cases has been consistently high from 2020 to 2025, but not a single incident of extortions having similarity to cases in Surrey or targeting the Indo-Canadian community has been recorded in Vancouver this year.”

This statistic is also surprising because Vancouver is the largest city in BC by population.

Meanwhile, Burnaby, which has a population of over 300,000, has no reported cases of extortions to the Extortion Joint Force Operation.

Along with this, the number of such cases in New Westminster has been reported as 2 and the number of such cases in Richmond as 3. Officials from Langley, Kelowna and Kamloops responded to Connect FM’s emails but did not share any concrete figures.

It is not difficult to understand from these figures that there are very few areas in B.C. that are suffering the greatest impact from these extortion cases.

These cases have occurred in large numbers, primarily in areas with large populations of Indo-Canadians/South Asian community, such as Surrey and Abbotsford.

The number of reported cases of extortion so far in these two jurisdictions is 123.

Sgt. Pollock said, “this is not a Surrey issue and this is happening in number of jurisdictions. When we originally started notifying public earlier this year, obviously places such as Surrey where there is large South Asian population is where these cases are being concentrated, perhaps that can be an educated guess, but I can’t say why they are happening where they are happening.”

Connect FM had first reached out to the Extortion Task Force to collect this complete information about Extortion numbers. On October 28, Connect FM sent an email to the Task Force Communications Officer asking for the total number of extortion cases in BC, and the information was sought on the total arrests in these cases, the breakdown of these cases by city, and the total shooting incidents related to these extortion cases.

Not a single figure/statistic was shared in response to that email.

The official email response said that the investigation of the cases is complex and despite the interest in specific data, providing statistics at this time would not provide an accurate picture of the complexity and scope of the situation.

Today, November 7, marks 50 days since the BC Extortion Task Force was established. The establishment of this force was announced on September 17.

Currently, the exact number of these cases across BC is not known, but it is clear from these current figures that the impact of this problem on the cities of Surrey and Abbotsford seems much more as compared to the neighboring jurisdictions.

However, the perpetrators of these incidents do not stop at any one city, and for this reason, the importance of cooperation from other jurisdictions in the investigation and prosecution cannot be underestimated.