Canada’s border agency says it has deported two men as part of a widening crackdown on extortion-linked organized crime, while hundreds of other immigration investigations tied to the same threat remain active across the country. In a news release issued Wednesday, the Canada Border Services Agency said Arshdeep Singh and Sukhnaaz Singh Sandhu were removed from Canada after the Immigration and Refugee Board found them inadmissible under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act on organized criminality grounds.
The CBSA said Arshdeep Singh entered Canada on a study permit in 2022. The agency arrested and detained him in November 2025 and alleged he was a member of a criminal organization linked to extortion, arson, drug trafficking and firearm offences. The Immigration and Refugee Board issued a deportation order in December 2025, and Singh was removed from Canada under escort on January 19, 2026, after being held as a danger to the public and a flight risk, according to the agency.
In the second case, the CBSA said Sukhnaaz Singh Sandhu entered Canada in 2016 as a temporary resident. He was arrested and detained in November 2025, then found inadmissible for organized criminality. The agency said Sandhu remained in immigration detention as a danger to the public until he was deported under escort on February 3, 2026.
The removals come as extortion investigations continue to intensify in British Columbia, Alberta and the Greater Toronto Area. The CBSA said it began formally tracking immigration enforcement cases with possible extortion links in the Pacific and Prairie regions in August 2025, then expanded that work to the GTA in November 2025. As of March 12, 2026, the agency said it had opened 372 immigration investigations, issued 70 removal orders and enforced 35 removals.
Under Section 37 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, a foreign national or permanent resident may be found inadmissible for organized criminality for being a member of an organization believed on reasonable grounds to be engaged in a pattern of serious criminal activity. Federal regulations state that this ground of inadmissibility carries a deportation order.
The CBSA said its enforcement work is being carried out with police partners, including the BC Extortion Task Force in the Lower Mainland and ALERT in Edmonton and Calgary. The BC task force said in January that it had taken over 32 files, secured almost 100 judicial authorizations and worked closely with the CBSA, which at the time was investigating 111 foreign nationals in the Pacific Region for possible immigration violations tied to the crackdown.
The agency is also leaning on expanded resources. In 2025, the CBSA removed more than 22,500 inadmissible people from Canada, including 1,010 on grounds tied to serious inadmissibility such as organized crime and criminality. Ottawa says the agency is now removing about 400 inadmissible individuals each week, with funding through Canada’s Border Plan aimed at supporting 20,000 removals annually in this fiscal year and next. The CBSA also says 1,000 new officers will be hired under the Border Plan and Budget 2025.
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said, “Extortion and organized crime have no place in our country.” CBSA President Erin O’Gorman added, “By increasing our removal capacity and deepening our partnerships with police, we have made significant progress toward ensuring these criminals cannot remain in Canada.”
