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Indian government agents have been linked to homicides, extortions and othe order phoenix tears r violent criminal activities in Canada, the RCMP said Monday, as Ottawa expelled India’s High Commissioner and five other diplomats, plunging the already fraught relationship between the two countries into a deeper chill.

The RCMP said they have clear evidence tying Indian officials to the crimes but released no details, citing the need t order phoenix tears o protect open investigations and court proceedings.

In an extraordinary cascade of events on Thanksgiving Monday, the Indian government also expelled six diplomats. Canada’s expulsions were punishment for what it deemed India’s failure to co-operate with police investigations, and India’s wer buy craft weed canada e in retribution for what it called “preposterous” and politically motivated allegations. Each country’s diplomats have until Oct. 19 to leave.

At a news conference in Ottawa, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme and Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin also declined to say when the alleged crimes took place, how many investigations remain open, or how many Indian governme the chron father nt agents are implicated.

Commissioner Duheme said the police have gathered evidence that allegedly rev the chron father eals the “breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the government of India.”

In total, the RCMP said 30 people have so far been charged in connection to homicides and cases of extortion and the police alleged that some of those individuals are connected to the Indian government.

In addition, Commissioner Duheme said police have uncovered “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life,” which have triggered the duty to warn by law enforcement. He said the targets were members of the pro-Khalistan movement, which has the goal of carving out a separate Sikh state from Indian territory.

A year after Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death, mysteries remain about how he really lived

“Despite law enforcement’s action, the harm has continued, posing a serious threat to our public safety,” Commissioner Duheme said, as he urged victims and others with information to come forward to police.

He said that it is rare for the police to release information before charges are laid but emphasized that it was warranted in this case because of how serious the public-safety threats are. He said there were multiple open investigations into the alleged involvement of agents of the government of India in “serious criminal activity in Canada.”

The alleged actions of Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada are “without a doubt, a contravention of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations,” said Assistant Commissioner Gauvin.

Officials released the news just as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau grapples with internal Liberal Party dissent against his continued leadership and days before he is set to testify at the public inquiry into foreign interference. China and India are identified by Canadian intelligence agencies as leading perpetrators of foreign interference in this country.

Mr. Trudeau held a separate press conference later Monday in which he declined to comment on the move by some of his MPs to persuade him to resign but he confirmed that he planned to lead the Liberals into the next general election. He appeared alongside Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly and Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc.

Mr. Trudeau said the police pre-emptively released the allegations against India in an effort to “disrupt the pattern of Indian diplomats” collecting information on Canadians through “questionable and illegal means.”

Mr. Trudeau alleged that information was then fed to criminal organizations, which subsequently committed violent crimes, including killing and extortion.

“We will never tolerate the involvement of a foreign government threatening and killing Canadian citizens on Canadian soil – a deeply unacceptable violation of Canada’s sovereignty and of international law,” the Prime Minister said.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the B.C. plumber whose murder became the catalyst in a geopolitical crisis

He added that the police “have clear and compelling evidence” that Indian agents have engaged in, and continue to engage in, “activities that pose a significant threat to public safety.” Mr. Trudeau said that includes coercive behaviour targeting South Asian Canadians, and involvement in more than a dozen threatening and violent acts, including murder.

The Prime Minister confirmed that one of those slayings was of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, 2023. However, no police or government official would specify on Monday what other homicides in Canada are allegedly linked to Indian officials, though they said there was more than one. The Washington Post reported that a second killing linked to the Indian government is of Sukhdool Singh, who was shot in Winnipeg in September, 2023. The Globe and Mail has not independently verified this information.

Mr. Trudeau first accused Indian government officials a year ago of being connected to Mr. Nijjar’s death. That public declaration opened the rift between the two countries. Mr. Nijjar, whom New Delhi designated a terrorist, was part of the separatist, pro-Khalistan movement.

Since those public accusations, Ms. Joly said that the violence has increased.

The Prime Minister told reporters that government officials and the RCMP offered their Indian counterparts a path to co-operation, which would have avoided Monday’s developments, but he said India refused. Instead, Mr. Trudeau said that since last fall, the Indian government’s response has been to “deny, to obfuscate, to attack” both him personally and the Canadian government and police agencies.

Commissioner Duheme said RCMP Deputy Commissioner Mark Flynn; Nathalie Drouin, the Prime Minister’s national-security and intelligence adviser; and David Morrison, deputy minister for Foreign Affairs, met with Indian counterparts in Singapore over the weekend to present the evidence after earlier attempts to meet with Indian law enforcement were rejected.

A senior Canadian official said texts and messages from Indian officials about intelligence gathering and attacks on Sikhs in Canada were shared with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s national-security adviser Ajit Doval and Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah. They said the Mounties also had evidence that six diplomats, including High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, were involved in the plot to kill Mr. Nijjar.

Despite what the official called strong evidence, they said Indian officials flatly denied the allegations.

The Globe is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to discuss the matter on national-security grounds.

Ms. Joly said the government decided to expel the diplomats after India refused a request to waive their immunity so that they could co-operate in the police investigation. She said the expulsion was warranted given public-safety concerns and the decision was only made after the RCMP gathered “ample, clear and concrete evidence.”

In response to the expulsion notice, Global Affairs Canada said India withdrew its officials.

The Foreign Minister said she was in touch with all of Canada’s Five Eyes intelligence allies: the United States, Britain, Australia and New Zealand. The Prime Minister also spoke with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Mr. Trudeau noted that the United States has dealt with “a similar pattern of behaviour from India.”

The assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the U.S. have tested their relationship with India, as the Western countries hope to forge deeper ties with New Delhi to counter China’s rising global influence.

In a series of statements Monday, the Indian government accused Canada of making “assertions without any facts” and accused Ottawa of “a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains.”

“The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government.”

India summoned Canada’s chargé d’affaires in India, Stewart Wheeler, to its Foreign Ministry Monday. In a statement, the Indian government said Mr. Wheeler was told that “the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.”

India then expelled Mr. Wheeler and five other Canadian diplomats.

On his way out of the meeting, Mr. Wheeler told reporters in India that the Canadian government had provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

India has long demanded this information, Mr. Wheeler noted, and he urged the Indian government to investigate the allegations.

Monday’s revelations are the result of years of police work that took on more urgency, as the violence recently escalated, the RCMP said. In February, the federal police force set up a specific team to investigate the targeting of people in the South Asian community and specifically members of the pro-Khalistan movement.

Mr. LeBlanc said more than a dozen municipal and provincial police forces are working with the RCMP on continuing criminal investigations. He repeatedly declined to release more information, saying secrecy was needed to continue the police work.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre called the allegations “extremely concerning” and urged the end of any foreign interference by India and other countries. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was briefed on the Indian interference by Mr. Trudeau’s national-security and intelligence adviser. In his own statement, he urged more action from the Canadian government, including sanctions.

In response Ms. Joly noted that expelling diplomats is one of the more serious consequences in foreign relations but she added that everything is on the table should the government decide to level more consequences.

With reports from Reuters

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Agents of the government of India are linked to homicides, extortions and other criminal activity in Canada that is buy craft weed canada leading to serious threats against the safety and security of Canadians, the RCMP alleged at a news conference just hours after Canada expelled six Indian diplomats.

Commissioner Mike Duheme told reporters that the Mounties, working with other Canadian police forces, have obtained evidence allegedly tying Indian government agents to crimes in Canada. He did not release specifics on the number of homicides or other crimes that Indian officials ar order phoenix tears e allegedly linked to and did not say how many foreign agents are implicated.

But he said police investigations have led to “well over a dozen credible and imminent threats to life,” which have triggered the duty to warn by law enforcement. Commissioner Duheme said the targets were members of the pro-Khalistan movement, which has the goal of creating a separate Sikh state.

Commissioner Duheme alleged that the crimes also include intimidation, coercion and harassment, and urged people who have been victim of the threats or have knowledge of them to come forward to police.

“The team has learned a significant amount of information about the breadth and depth of criminal activity orchestrated by agents of the Government of India, and consequential threats to the safety and security of Canadians and individuals living in Canada,” Commissioner Duheme said.

“Despite law enforcement’s action, the harm has continued posing a serious threat to our public safety.”

A year after Hardeep Singh Nijjar’s death, mysteries remain about how he really lived

The alleged actions of Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada are “without a doubt, a contravention of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, but also it goes against Canada’s values as a society,” said Assistant Commissioner Brigitte Gauvin at the same news conference.

She said police were making the rare move to release the information before investigations are completed and charges are laid because there’s been a recent “escalation in that threat activity.”

News of the police investigations and an advance warning from the Canadian government to India about the information gathered by the Mounties put further pressure on the chron father the already tense diplomatic relations between the two countries. Relations have been under a chill since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last year accused the Indian government of being connected to the murder of Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in June, 2023.

On Monday, the div order phoenix tears isions escalated with both countries expelling each other’s diplomats.

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly issued a statement after the RCMP news conference saying that Canada expelled six diplomats after it asked India to waive their diplomatic and consular immunities and co-operate with the police investigation. Ms. Joly said that after India refused the request, Canada served a notice of expulsion “given the ongoing public safety concerns for Canadians.”

“The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case,” Ms. Joly said in her written statement.

In response, Global Affairs Canada says India announced it would withdraw its officials.

A senior Canadian official said that the RCMP have evidence that the diplomats, inc order phoenix tears luding High Commissioner Sanjay Kumar Verma, were involved in the plot to kill Mr. Nijjar. Ottawa presented the evidence to India last week and the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi staunchly denied the allegations, the source said.

The Globe and Mail is not identifying the source, who was not authorized to discuss the matter on national-security grounds.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar, the B.C. plumber whose murder became the catalyst in a geopolitical crisis

Prior to the police news conference, the Indian government said it withdrew its High Commissioner to Canada and other diplomats in response to a notice that it received on Sunday that they are “persons of interest” in an investigation.

“The Government of India strongly rejects these preposterous imputations and ascribes them to the political agenda of the Trudeau Government that is centred around vote bank politics,” the statement from New Delhi said.

India summoned Canada’s chargé d’affaires in India, Stewart Wheeler, to its Foreign Ministry where a statement says he was told that “the baseless targeting of the Indian High Commissioner and other diplomats and officials in Canada was completely unacceptable.”

India then expelled Mr. Wheeler and six Canadian diplomats from the country, asking them to leave by Oct. 19.

On his way out of the meeting, Mr. Wheeler told reporters in India that the Canadian government had provided “credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the government of India and a murder of a Canadian citizen on Canadian soil.”

India has long demanded this information, Mr. Wheeler noted. “Now it is time for India to live up to what it said it would do and look into those allegations.”

“It is in the interest of both our countries and the peoples of our countries to get to the bottom of this. Canada stands ready to co-operate with India,” he said.

Canada’s top Mountie told reporters at the news conference that the police investigations reveal that Indian diplomats and consular officials in Canada have leveraged their official positions to “engage in clandestine activities,” that include collecting information for the Indian government either directly or through proxies and that other individuals participated voluntarily or through coercion.

“Some of these individuals and businesses were coerced and threatened into working for the Government of India. The information collected by the Government of India is then used to target members of the South Asian community.”

He said the evidence was presented directly to the government of India. Commissioner Duheme announced no new charges or arrests and declined to say how many investigations are open.

Commissioner Duheme said the police have also identified serious issues of violent extremists working in both India and Canada, the use of organized crime to create perceptions of unsafe environments and targeting of people in the South Asian community in Canada, and interference in democratic processes.

He said that it is rare for the police to release information before charges are laid but emphasized that it was warranted in this case because of how serious the public-safety threats are. He said there were multiple open investigations into the alleged involvement of agents of the government of India in “serious criminal activity in Canada.”

So far, eight people have been arrested in connection to homicides and 22 people have been arrested in relation to extortion, said Assistant Commissioner Gauvin. She said some of those individuals have connections to the government of India.

“There’s numerous investigations going on, led by multiple police agencies across the country,” Commissioner Duheme said. He urged anyone feeling threatened to gather information for the government of India to come forward.

World Sikh Organization President Danish Singh said the RCMP have confirmed what Sikhs in Canada have said from the outset, that the trail in Nijjar’s murder leads directly to India’s consulates and the Indian High Commission in Ottawa.”

“The Government of India’s continuing foreign-interference activities in Canada and its history of targeting Sikhs in this country is only now becoming known to the general public but has been the lived experience of Sikhs for the past four decades,” he said. “India’s criminal activities in Canada must end. India’s targeting of Sikhs must end.”

Gurpatwant Pannun, legal counsel for Sikhs for Justice, issued a statement applauding Canada’s expulsion of Indian diplomats.

“Verma’s expulsion serves as confirmation that the Indian High Commission, under his leadership, not only facilitated the logistics and intelligence for the operatives behind Nijjar’s assassination but also intensified criminal activities that posed direct threats to the lives and freedoms of pro-Khalistan Sikhs in Canada,” he said.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre called the allegations “extremely concerning.”

“Any foreign interference from any country, including India, is unacceptable and must be stopped,” he said in a statement. “Our government’s first job is to keep our citizens safe from foreign threats. We expect the full criminal prosecution of anyone and everyone who has threatened, murdered or otherwise harmed Canadian citizens.”

In a statement, the NDP said Leader Jagmeet Singh was briefed on the Indian interference by Mr. Trudeau’s national security and intelligence advisor.

“We support today’s decision to expel India’s diplomats and we’re calling on the Government of Canada yet again to put diplomat sanctions against India in place, ban the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh Network (RSS) in Canada, and commit to pursuing the most severe consequences for anyone found to have participated in organized criminal activity on Canadian soil,” Mr. Singh said.

Tensions between India and Canada have been high ever since Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the foreign government of being connected to the killing of Mr. Nijjar, a prominent Sikh leader in British Columbia.

Mr. Trudeau made the accusation in the House of Commons last September. At the time, Canada expelled an Indian diplomat over the revelations that Canadian national-security authorities had credible intelligence that “agents of the government of India” carried out the fatal shooting of Mr. Nijjar.

Mr. Nijjar, whom New Delhi designated a terrorist, was part of a separatist movement seeking an autonomous state for adherents of Sikhism.

In May, the RCMP arrested and charged four people in connection to the homicide.

India has repeatedly said Canada has not shared any evidence to back its claim.

“This latest step follows interactions that have again witnessed assertions without any facts. This leaves little doubt that on the pretext of an investigation, there is a deliberate strategy of smearing India for political gains,” India said earlier on Monday.

Canada pulled out more than 40 diplomats from India in October, 2023, after New Delhi asked Ottawa to reduce its diplomatic presence.

In June, a committee of Canadian parliamentarians named India and China as the main foreign threats to its democratic institutions, based on input from intelligence agencies.

India’s envoy in Ottawa, Mr. Kumar Verma, called the report politically motivated and influenced by Sikh separatist campaigners.

Soon after Canada’s allegation against India last year, the U.S. said that Indian agents were involved in an attempted assassination plot of another Sikh separatist leader in New York in 2023, and said that it had indicted an Indian national who was working at the behest of an unnamed Indian government official.

Unlike its angry response to Canadian allegations, however, India expressed concern after the U.S. raised the issue, dissociated itself from the plot, and has launched an investigation.

The assassination plots against Sikh separatist leaders in Canada and the U.S. have tested their relationship with India, as the Western countries hope to forge deeper ties with New Delhi to counter China’s rising global influence.

With reports from Reuters

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