The Lawrence Bishnoi gang had at one time claimed that it had 1,000 foot soldiers in Canada, Canada media reports said on Friday.
This came up at a testimony for a deportation case in an extortion matter.
The letter, dated August 13, 2025, was addressed to a police station in Abbotsford, British Columbia. It outlined the gang’s criminal organisation and boasted of its strength amid a surge in extortion cases targeting the South Asian diaspora.
According to Global News, Edmonton Police Service extortion investigator Const Kevin St. Louis testified at a deportation hearing that police received the letter from the Lawrence Bishnoi gang. “This specific letter outlined essentially their criminal organisation, where they talked about having upwards of 1,000 individuals that are willing to carry out these shootings as a part of the group,” he said.
CBC News reported similarly: “The Lawrence Bishnoi gang purportedly wrote police in Abbotsford, B.C. directly last summer claiming more than 1,000 foot soldiers were ready to carry out extortions, according to a police witness who testified at an immigration hearing on Thursday.”
However, as per the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in India, Lawrence Bishnoi has around 700 gang members in total. Therefore, the claims about 1,000 foot soldiers on Canadian land seem far-fetched.
Indian security agencies have long described the Bishnoi syndicate as a major organised crime network involved in drug trafficking, contract killings, and extortion both in India and abroad.
The CBC report also detailed the extortion network and the deportation hearing for Jashandeep Singh, an Indian national identified by Edmonton police as part of the sprawling investigation. It further mentioned a fracture in the group involving leaders like Lawrence Bishnoi, his former ally Goldy Brar, now turned enemy, and Jora Sidhu, also known as Sippa, who was involved in organised crime under the Bishnoi gang and was killed in Dubai in December with his throat slit in a killing credited to a rival gangster.
The development comes months after Canada designated the Bishnoi gang a terrorist entity in September 2025, citing its involvement in transnational crimes including murder, shootings and arson. The gang, led by jailed Indian gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, is accused of targeting Punjabi business owners with threats via WhatsApp and social media, demanding “protection tax” and resorting to violence when payments are not made.
Canadian authorities have linked the group to a wave of such incidents in provinces like British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Police have intensified efforts through specialised task forces, leading to several deportations of alleged foot soldiers, many of whom are young Indian nationals on study permits or temporary visas. Examples include deportations linked to cases involving Arshdeep Singh and Sukhnaaz Singh Sandhu.