New Delhi: Two years after arriving in Canada on a student visa in 2017, designated individual terrorist (under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act) Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar had sought refugee status in the country, a report by Canadian news network Global News said, citing a confidential report prepared by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).
The report further said that Brar, a native of Sri Muktsar Sahib in Punjab, abandoned the process by not turning up for the hearings. According to the report, Brar arrived in the North American country to attend Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia.
The CBSA report noted that it was “unknown” whether he even attended classes at the college. The findings regarding Brar’s use of the Canadian immigration system have been cited by the CBSA in its report titled ‘The Bishnoi Gang: An Emerging Threat in Canada’, which the agency circulated among immigration officers in December last year to tackle the crime syndicate, the report further said.
Earlier known as a close confidant of jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, Brar has reportedly developed differences with him, according to Indian intelligence agencies. ThePrint had earlier reported how Brar left the country in 2017 on a student visa after securing acquittals in all four cases registered against him while he was in India.
The Canadian authorities had put Brar on their most-wanted list in May 2023 before quietly dropping him from it later that same year.
After applying for refugee status in Canada, Brar was set to appear for a hearing in June 2022 to press claims for refugee status but never showed up for the process, Global News further reported, citing CBSA’s report
Brar and Bishnoi have been accused of running an organised crime syndicate, including extortion and targeted killings in Canada, including that of Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar and gangster Sukhdool Singh Gill aka Sukha Duneke in June and September 2023 respectively. Nijjar was designated as an individual terrorist in July 2020, and he was the head of the banned outfit Khalistan Tiger Force (KTF). Duneke, on the other hand, was an alleged operative of the Bambiha gang, rivals of the one run by Bishnoi and Brar.
The Global News report said that Brar allegedly recruited Indian youths—all on students’ visas—in Edmonton and Brampton to carry out the Nijjar killing.
Additionally, the report further claimed that the number of crimes committed by student permit holders from India had soared by 8,800 percent between 2016 and 2024, with the CBSA marking India as a “top source” country of foreign students charged with crimes. According to the CBSA report, as cited by Global News, 4,000 Indians on study permits were charged with 17,929 offences between 2019 and 2023—4,920 of which were considered organised crime-related. Of those crimes, 97 percent were considered violent by the Canadian authorities, the report further said.
In 2024 alone, Indians on study permits were charged with 13,040 criminal offences, the report further said.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
Great news indeed.
India must encourage all such criminals to apply for refugee status in Canada.
Once they become Canadian citizens, they become Canada’s headache. We got nothing to do with them any more.