A former senior RCMP officer says it has become apparent that the ongoing rash of local extortion threats and shootings are connected to India, but investigators are not making the same connection just yet.

The wave of extortion cases are continuing to rise in B.C. and any international connection makes the investigations quite complex, says Galib Bhayani, a criminology instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and former chief superintendent with RCMP Metro Vancouver Operations.

When Bhayani first heard about extortion threats impacting business owners, it didn’t strike him as much more than local criminality. But looking further at these cases, as well as others popping up in Alberta and Brampton, Ont., he suspects the crimes are international in scope.

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