Premier David Eby said he was “incredibly concerned” to see news reports about an internal RCMP memo containing talk of an alleged link between the Lawrence Bishnoi gang and the Indian government right after he landed in the country on a trade mission.
“It was challenging,” he said on a Thursday Zoom call with reporters. “We almost cancelled meetings here until we were able to see the full document.”
Eby downplayed the significance of the information after seeing the three-page document first obtained and reported on by Global News.
“It turned out to be a three-page briefing note, and the paragraph in question that was cited in the initial news report was a summary of publicly available news articles from the October 2024 period, allegations we were aware of that were very fully canvassed at the time, citing news outlets like Al-Jazeera,” Eby said. “This was not an RCMP intelligence report.”
Black Press Media has reached out to the RCMP for more information.
Eby said he was “frustrated” to hear of this possible connection after being “extremely careful” to ensure he fully understood the current relationship between India and Canada. This included obtaining briefings from defence and intelligence officials.
The India trip comes amid continued tensions between the countries.
Eby’s decision to go to India angered many in B.C.’s Sikh community, who do not want normalized trade relations until pro-Khalistan activist Hardeep Nijjar’s killers and those who ordered his killing are brought to justice. Nijjar was killed in Surrey in 2023, allegedly shot by Indian hitmen. Four men have been arrested and charged with his murder.
According to Eby, the situation with the Bishnoi gang, extortions and the killing of Nijjar are getting “conflated,” but he did not rule out the possibility of a connection.
“Any connections to government officials or anything else will all be going through the criminal trial process, which is underway right now,” Eby said.
The Bishnoi gang has claimed responsibility online for some of the recent extortion-related violence in B.C.
Eby said the gang could be just trying to claim credit to gain notoriety, but it does seem to be at least “tangentially involved” and should be held accountable. He pushed for the federal government to designate the group as a terrorist organization, which it did this past September.
Meanwhile, extortion-related shootings are on the rise, especially in Surrey. In 2025, there were 132 reported extortion-related crimes, 49 shootings and 88 distinct victims. As of Jan. 12, there have been 16 reported extortions, three shootings and 12 distinct victims for 2026.
Eby defended the response thus far, saying that “there are more police in Surrey right now than ever before.” He also said police told him the task force working on the extortion cases will provide a public update on progress next week.
Another extortion-related shooting was reported early Thursday morning (Jan. 15), and two people were killed earlier in the week, one found after a Monday-morning house fire, and another shot to death on Tuesday.