On May 4, a gunman walked into a business complex in Surrey, British Columbia, in broad daylight and shot Gurvikramjeet Singh Warring, an Indian immigrant renting office space there. Warring, as later reported by CBC's Fifth Estate, was a top handler for the Lawrence Bishnoi gang, a crime syndicate based in India with a growing network in Canada spanning British Columbia, Ontario, and Alberta. Witnesses told CBC that the shooter left as casually as he arrived. Warring, 35, died from his wounds.
String of Violent Crimes Linked to Bishnoi Gang
The brazen killing was the latest in a series of murders, arsons, and extortions allegedly involving the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in Canada. A rival gang claimed responsibility, but Canadian authorities have connected the Bishnoi group to a widening wave of crime, including the murder of a Punjabi hip hop artist and a shooting at the home of another Indian-Canadian musician in British Columbia. Canadian intelligence officials have also alleged that the group carried out the 2023 political assassination of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was gunned down in the parking lot of a Surrey temple, reportedly at the behest of Indian state actors.
Gang Exploits Immigration System
Led by Lawrence Bishnoi, who is said to run the outfit from a prison in western India where he has been incarcerated since 2015, the Bishnoi gang has continued to expand its presence in Canada, taking advantage of the country's lax immigration laws to grow its footprint on Canadian soil, according to the report.
International Crackdown and Arrests
On Tuesday, Canadian and U.S. authorities announced the arrests of 24 suspects, many associated with the Bishnoi gang, as part of a sweeping international clampdown on rising Indian gang activity in both countries. Three arrests were made in Canada, with the RCMP stating it would seek extradition to the United States to face charges. One indictment, stemming from a joint investigation between the RCMP and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, explicitly charged Lawrence Bishnoi in connection with his alleged involvement in the Nijjar killing.
National Security Concerns
Robert Huish, an associate dean at Dalhousie University and an expert on foreign interference, said the latest charges mark a substantial escalation in enforcement against the highest levels of the Bishnoi and other Indian gangs. "This sounds like the FBI and RCMP are well co-ordinated, and they're not just looking at maybe one or two acts, but actually trying to get to the whole network," Huish said. "It does boil down to the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 — that was the catalyst in terms of bringing witness testimony forward, and also identifying some of the foot soldiers of the Bishnoi gang." Huish added that the Bishnoi gang's Canadian presence has escalated from a mere criminal threat to a full-fledged national security risk as new allegations of its ties to India's government emerge. In January 2026, Global News obtained an internal RCMP report suggesting the crime syndicate was working on behalf of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government, which has actively sought to repress pro-Khalistan sentiments among India's Sikh diaspora, adding to Canadian officials' earlier accusation that India used the Bishnoi gang to conduct the 2023 assassination.
