Edmonton police charge 6 people in ‘Project Gaslight’ arson extortion case

Edmonton police said Friday morning that six more people have been arrested in an ongoing arson extortion scheme targeting South Asian business owners.

The Edmonton Police Service is now investigating 40 incidents related to the extortion series, dubbed Project Gaslight.

The most recent incident happened in the Cavanagh neighbourhood on Friday morning, involving an arson at an area apartment building. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said it happened just after 3 a.m. at an apartment building under construction near Cavanagh Blvd. and 30th Avenue Southwest.

Police said the latest arrests were made on Thursday, when members of the EPS and RCMP executed search warrants at six locations in southeast Edmonton.

Four men, one male youth and one woman were arrested and charged. Police said Canada-wide warrants have been issued for a seventh person believed to be the leader of the criminal organization responsible for the extortions.

“From the standpoint of sheer volume of information our investigators reviewed, this was likely one of the largest investigations in the history of the EPS, resulting in substantial charges for all accused,” said Acting Insp. David Paton with the EPS organized crime branch.

0:56 Project Gaslight: Arson suspects getting burn materials from west Edmonton gas station

Jashandeep Kaur, 19, Gurkaran Singh, 19, Manav Heer, 19, Parminder Singh, 21, Divnoor Asht, 19 and a 17-year-old male are all facing serious criminal charges, according to police.

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Police said the six people face a total of 54 charges, including extortion, arson, intentionally discharging a firearm, break and enter, assault with a weapon, as well as a number of charges linked to committing an offence for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization.

Canada-wide warrants have been issued for Maninder Dhaliwal, 34. Police are unaware of his location but are working with federal law enforcement partners to locate him. Officers believe he may have changed his appearance since the below picture was taken.

Police said charges have now been laid in 26 of the 40 incidents related to the Edmonton-area series.

“We believe that the individuals identified today represent the core members of this criminal network; however, we know Dhaliwal is actively recruiting other young people and we want parents, specifically from the South Asian community, to be aware and to have conversations with their young adults about the extortions and arsons that have been taking place,” Paton said.

Law enforcement agencies in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario are working on similar extortion investigations.

“We continue to share information and intelligence and leverage additional resources and supports as we collectively work to identify, arrest and deter those individuals and criminal organizations targeting our communities,” said Supt. Adam MacIntosh with the RCMP’s national co-ordination and support team (NCST).

Anyone with information on Dhaliwal’s location is asked to immediately contact police at projectgaslight@edmontonpolice.ca or 780-391-4279. Anonymous information can be submitted to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online.

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