Videos seized from the cellphone of an Indian national removed from Canada this summer for alleged links to the Bishnoi gang show him posing with a gun, pointing the weapon at an Edmonton college and posing in front of a burning building.
Sahibjot Singh was found inadmissible to Canada in July after admitting to possessing and discharging unauthorized weapons tying him to the criminal activities of a web of young men linked to extortions, arsons and shootings in B.C., Alberta and Ontario.
Although Singh denied involvement in the Bishnoi organization, Immigration and Refugee Board records released to CBC News place him alongside other suspects who were allegedly led by a mid-level ringleader for the gang named Arshdeep Singh.
“The group mainly consists of South Asians from India targeting South Asian business owners for extortion money where threats of arson and shootings with the allusion or real Lawrence Bishnoi commanding the threat,” reads a Canada Border Services Agency report on Sahibjot Singh.
“Roles within the organization range from planning and directing the extortions, to making the calls and text messages, to providing the crime guns and vehicles to carry out the act to being the shooter or arsonist on scene.”
‘Major public safety implications’
The documents relating to Sahibjot Singh are part of a wealth of information about the workings of Bishnoi-linked and Bishnoi-copycat gangs emerging from the IRB proceedings that have resulted in 188 removal orders against suspected extortionists as of September.
In a news release this week, the CBSA said 111 individuals have been removed from Canada — singling out Sahibjot Singh and three other men for their links to extortion-related activity.
CBC News has attended IRB proceedings for multiple extortion suspects — including Sahibjot Singh, who argued his hearing should be private out of fear the Bishnoi gang would target him if he provided evidence or failed to contradict the government’s allegations.
But the IRB member who ultimately issued the deportation order against the 21-year-old denied Singh’s application.
“As these events have major public safety implications, the Canadian public should be entitled to transparency on the matter,” wrote IRB member Trent Cook.
“This includes media reports on how various Canadian law enforcement agencies are responding to this issue and any legal consequences that may apply for individuals deemed culpable.”
Permit to study in Lac La Biche
Sahibjot Singh came to Canada in September 2023 on a study permit to attend Portage College in Lac La Biche, about 168 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.
At the time of his arrest in October 2025, Singh had been living at his uncle’s house in Edmonton for three months and was unemployed. The documents claim his family was sending him $2,000 a month and he intended to apply for an open work permit once he finished his studies.
According to the IRB documents, police began investigating Sahibjot Singh after his phone number was identified in a cell phone seized from Arshdeep Singh — who had been under investigation for months.
“A social media search revealed Sahibjot Singh had posted numerous videos and images of himself in possession of firearms while inside vehicles, outside in public areas and most concerning in a parking lot at Campbell College,” reads a file summary from the Edmonton Police Service
“A subsequent police information query showed that Sahibjot did not possess a valid firearms license. As such, police launched a new investigation into Sahibjot for unauthorized possession of firearms.”
A search of Sahibjot Singh’s residence turned up a Mossberg Maverick pump shotgun “laid on a shelf of the makeshift closet in the open, not locked or stored properly.”
A friend who turned up with Sahibjot Singh the day after the search claimed the gun was his. As a result, both men were arrested and targeted for further investigation.
‘Never, like, seen a handgun’
A download of Sahibjot Singh’s cellphone in the weeks that followed included video and photos of Singh “in possession of numerous firearms including multiple shotguns and handguns” and Singh filming “himself in front of a burning building, appears to be a dwelling house.”
The IRB documents contain a statement from a CBSA officer who matched the video to a house in Edmonton that burned down in July 2024, and a news article that noted the cause of the fire was under investigation.
Sahibjot Singh also allegedly took “video of someone snorting cocaine off a cell phone” and “took video of drug use in his car, AK-47 hanging from the rear view window.”
The IRB files include a transcript from a detention hearing that resulted in Sahibjot Singh’s release prior to the admissibility hearing that resulted in his deportation.
At the hearing, counsel for the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship noted that Sahibjot Singh initially told CBSA officers that he had “never, like, seen a handgun” and claimed to have only shot a gun once with his brother at the Edmonton shooting range.
He also said “I don’t know this Arshdeep Singh.”
When he was later asked about the numerous pictures he posted online of himself holding weapons — including one that showed him “sitting on a bed with a firearm, cash and a collection of ammunition” — Sahibjot Singh allegedly told the CBSA it “was to show off” and “just for fun.”
The lawyer who represented Sahibjot Singh at his detention review echoed that point, noting that while Sahibjot Singh was charged with careless storage of a firearm, he was never directly charged in relation to any extortion incidents.
“If he wants to be a silly young man and wants to pose and make himself look like a big shot, go ahead,” the lawyer told the IRB member who released Sahibjot Singh.
“Apparently, they have all this amazing overwhelming evidence on him, why haven’t they charged him with any of these gang activities?”
At Sahibjot Singh’s admissibility hearing, he admitted to having been “wilfully blind to the nature of the organization” whose criminal activity he had participated in.
