Three Indian nationals, including a teenager, have been arrested in Canada and charged in connection with an incident of multiple shots being fired at a residence for the apparent purpose of extortion.
All three were arrested in the early hours of Sunday and their names and photographs released on Monday as charges were filed against them. They were identified as Harjot Singh, 21, Taranveer Singh, 19, and Dayajeet Singh Billing, also 21. All three were charged with one count of discharging a firearm into a place.
They have been remanded to custody till Friday and police said as they were foreign nationals, the Canada Border Services Agency or CBSA had also been engaged in the matter.
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Just before 4 am on Sunday, local police officers in the town of Surrey in British Columbia were patrolling a neighbourhood when reports came in of shots fired and a small fire outside a residence in the area.
Officers from the Surrey Police Service, the Lower Mainland District Integrated Police Dog Service, and the Delta Police Department responded to assist. SPS officers in the area located a suspect vehicle driving nearby and its occupants fled on foot. A short time later three suspects were taken into custody after getting into a rideshare vehicle, SPS said in a release issued on Monday.
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Surrey Fire Services members were able to extinguish the small fire by a fence on the property. There was no reported damage to the house because of the fire. However, the residence, which was occupied at the time, was confirmed to be damaged by gun fire. There were no reported injuries, police said.
SPS’s Major Crime Section assumed charge of the investigation.
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Police were patrolling the area as part of Project Assurance, an initiative undertaken following the surge in extortion cases in the town as well as the Lower Mainland region of BC.
Just last week, two other Indian nationals were arrested, also in Surrey, in connection with a shooting episode linked to extortion.
Harshdeep Singh, 20, was charged with one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and one count of occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm is present, and Hanspreet Singh, a 21-year-old male, was charged with one count of occupying a vehicle knowing a firearm was present.
