RCMP says it has ‘strong evidence’ that campaign of violence is linked to ‘highest levels’ of Indian government

The head of the RCMP says the Mounties have strong evidence showing that the “highest levels” of the Indian government were involved in orchestrating a campaign of violence and intimidation on Canadian soil.

“We have strong evidence – not intelligence, but evidence – that this goes all the way to the highest level,” Commissioner Mike Duheme told CBC. Power and politics host David Cochrane on Friday.

“Some of the evidence I refer to will eventually come to light through the legal process.”

Duheme’s sit-down interview comes more than a week after he made the RCMP investigation public at a news conference. The RCMP alleges that agents of the Indian government were complicit in widespread crimes in Canada, including murder, extortion and intimidation.

Duheme said police evidence shows that Indian diplomats and consular staff gathered information and took that information to the Indian government, after which instructions were given to criminal organizations to carry out violent acts.

The commissioner said police have gathered evidence of credible and imminent threats against members of the South Asian community, particularly members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

Last week, the federal government announced that it had expelled six Indian diplomats, including the High Commissioner, India’s chief envoy to Canada. India has denied the allegations and quickly retaliated by expelling Canadian diplomats from the country.

“In my 37-year career, this is the first time I’ve actually seen this,” Duheme said Friday, describing the scope of the investigation. “We learned a lot from it.”

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Canada has deported six high-level Indian diplomats after the RCMP said it had evidence that Indian diplomats in Canada were involved in a campaign to intimidate, coerce and sometimes even kill on Canadian soil. Andrew Chang provides an overview of what we know about Canada’s allegations of the Indian government’s ties to organized crime and this latest diplomatic escalation between the two countries.

Duheme said he believes since the RCMP went public, the threat to South Asian communities has diminished.

“I do believe, based on the information we have, that we had a significant impact on the way they operated.” he said.

“I must emphasize that when you are dealing with organized crime figures, you can deal with them, but usually they regroup and find different tactics. But our investigators are watching everything on the ground.”

Mounties tried to alert Indian police: Duheme

During last week’s press conference, the RCMP said they have warned 13 Canadians since September 2023 that they could be targets of intimidation or threats by Indian officers. Some of these individuals have received multiple threats.

Duheme said he believes these people are now “in a better place.”

Duheme said the Mounties first tried to share evidence linking crimes in Canada to higher levels of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government with Indian police, but were unsuccessful.

Duheme said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn, who heads the federal police, met with Indian government officials earlier this month in Singapore, along with Canadian National Security Adviser Nathalie Drouin and Deputy Foreign Minister Business David Morrison.

“At that meeting, the Deputy Commissioner presented evidence of how agents of the Government of India, through diplomats and consular officers, were collecting information on Canadians on their behalf and conveying it back to the Government of India, which would flow through them. useful items to organized crime groups,” he said.

The Washington Post, citing anonymous sources, has reported that the campaign of violence and intimidation in Canada was approved by India’s Home Minister Amit Shah.

Duheme said he could not comment on the evidence.

India has denied working with criminal organizations to attack Sikh separatists in Canada and has accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of having a “political agenda” behind the allegations.