Surrey Police Tackle Extortion Shootings, Seek Community Trust

0:00It's March 30th. Welcome to Vancouver News today, powered by AI. Police and Surrey are digging into two fresh extortion-related shootings that hit early Monday morning. First, gunfire targeted a business in the Cloverdale neighborhood marking the second attack there in just one week. The initial one landed on March 23rd. Then shots rang out at a home on 77a, Avenue in the Newton area, damaging the house and a parked vehicle, but luckily no one inside got hurt. This comes after a spike in extortion violence earlier this year, with 11 such shootings reported in Surrey so far, 10 in January alone, and 1 in February. Officials see a possible dip lately, but these back-to-back hits suggest the problem lingers, tied to threats shaking the South Asian community. Folks are especially concerned about international students getting pulled into this mess. Other kids point out these young people, often isolated and strapped for cash, face pressure from gangs like the India-based Lawrence-Bishnoi crew, who lure them with quick money, then

1:04coerce them into crimes with threats to them or family back home. A local committee member named Mokam Singh Malik is pushing for action, like a WhatsApp tip-line for anonymous reports and simple extortion awareness. Kits with QR codes for easy reporting. He argues it builds trust in communities wary of police. Surrey police are stepping up, too, with around the clock extortion hotline monitored weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., 15 staff on A, provincial task force, in-house investigators, and daily patrols in hotspots, as they connect these dots staying vigilant could keep more life safe.