The notorious Lawrence Bishnoi gang threatened to “take over Canada” in a letter to police, boasting it had more than 5,000 members in the country who are willing to carry out shootings for just $1,000.
The August 2025 letter, sent to Abbotsford police and addressed to Canada’s “defence minister, army and police,” was obtained by CBC News through an Access to Information Act request.
“We are Indian gang Canada has no guts to stop us is that clear — we will rule in CANADA now no one can stop us we are very powerful,” the letter reads verbatim.
“This is our time now Indian we have more than 5000 gang member in Canada they can do shooting for only $1000 can you stop us no way. You will see we will takeover CANADA soon.”
The gang’s claims have not been independently verified.
The letter was among documents compiled by the Canada Border Services Agency for an Immigration and Refugee Board hearing involving an alleged Bishnoi associate who was ordered to be deported in July.
The files detail multi-agency efforts to disrupt suspected Bishnoi-linked cells behind extortions, shootings and arsons across Canada.
They include a CBSA “Tactical Guide” tracing the organization’s growth in Canada from 2023 through late 2025.
Lawrence Bishnoi has been jailed in India since 2015, but has built an international organization from behind bars.
In Canada, Bishnoi allegedly relied on Goldy Brar, who received a student permit in 2017 to attend Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. It is unknown whether he attended classes.
Brar filed a refugee claim in 2019, which was deemed abandoned in 2022. His current whereabouts are unknown.
According to the documents, Bishnoi and Brar later split and became rivals, with CBSA intelligence indicating Brar’s name was the one “most often used in extortion cases” in Alberta.
This summer, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward for information leading to Brar’s capture after announcing charges against Bishnoi and his associates for conspiracy and killings, including the alleged murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Surrey in 2023.
The gang’s letter also threatened Canadian business owners with what it called a protection “TAX.”
“Very soon every business owner have to pay protection money to us it is like TAX,” the letter reads.
“No other way around for any business. so do not try to stop us and doesn’t matter Indian or white or black community businessman they all have to pay us.”
An Edmonton Police Service investigative report said the letter fit a pattern of threats attributed to the Bishnoi group in shootings and extortion cases across Canada.
Ballistics evidence cited by investigators linked shootings in Edmonton, Calgary and Surrey.
One message sent to an extortion victim warned: “This time I shot at your house, next time it’s going to be you.”
“Either talk to us and settle this and it will be good for you guys. Or shots will be fired at your entire family.”
The documents also contain claims from a confidential informant that kidnapping had become a new extortion tactic allegedly directed by Brar.
“Young Canadian visa holders are directed to do the kidnapping,” the informant claimed.