The premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia, David Eby, on Tuesday urged the federal government to designate jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi’s group as a terrorist organisation, reported CBC News.

The move is aimed at tackling extortion cases linked to the group in several provinces of the North American country.

This came after a public safety forum was held over the weekend in Surrey to address crimes being faced by South Asian business owners. Police have said that members of the community were being extorted after being threatened with death or violence. Bishnoi’s gang is allegedly linked to such cases.

Bishnoi, a gangster from Punjab, is currently in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Central Jail. He has been linked to multiple crimes, including the Canadian government’s allegations that agents of the Indian government were working with his gang to plan and execute violence in North America.

“There are allegations that gangs in India are operating here in our province, and in other provinces, to intimidate and extort business owners,” The Globe and Mail quoted Eby as having told reporters in Victoria on Tuesday.

The provincial chief said that he would be writing to Prime Minister Mark Carney “to ask that one of the gangs that is self-identified as being involved in some of these activities, the Lawrence Bishnoi group, be listed as a terrorist organisation in Canada”.

The alleged operations of the gang extended across British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario, Eby said.

He further noted that existing law enforcement powers may fall short due to a pattern of transnational organised crime, adding that a terrorist designation would allow police to use enhanced legal tools, The Indian Express reported.

“They need additional tools to respond to the fact that this is transnational organised crime,” the newspaper quoted Eby as having said. “This is more in the nature of terrorism than it is traditional crime. The community is terrified, and action needs to be taken.”

On June 13, the Surrey Police Service said that it had formed an extortion investigations team after receiving ten reports of such cases over the past six months, The Globe and Mail reported.

The cases involved persons or businesses from the South Asian community being contacted through a letter, phone calls or social media, the police said. They faced demands for money made under threats of violence.

“We discourage anyone from responding to such demands,” Chief Superintendent Wendy Mehat, a Royal Canadian Mounted Police liaison for Surrey, had stated. “Officers are working to prevent these traumatising situations and to holding those responsible to account.”

In India, the National Investigation Agency had earlier claimed that Bishnoi was running a “terror syndicate” from jails in the country, with operations extending to Canada through local associates, The Indian Express reported.

The Mumbai Police suspect his involvement in the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique in October. Bishnoi has also been accused of masterminding the killing of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala on May 29, 2022.