STEPPING UP THE RANKS

Indo-canadian Gangs Gain In Strength And Organization Even As The
Community Unites Against Them

Young Indo-Canadian gangsters are becoming increasingly sophisticated,
and adopting names and logos like the infamous outlaw motorcycle
clubs, police say.

A year ago police felt that Indo-Canadian gangs, despite dozens of
murders, were less organized than traditional crime groups. But today
there is a level of sophistication exhibited by these rival groups as
they tussle over turf in B.C.'s lucrative drug trade.

The RCMP's annual report on organized crime this year ranks the
Indo-Canadian groups third after outlaw bikers and Asians in terms of
their strength and organization in B.C.'s hierarchy of criminal
organizations.

And the killing of gang members has continued, with 10 murders since
last fall of Indo-Canadians or their associates linked to gangs.

The latest victim, Hardev Singh Sidhu, 27, was found slumped in his
car at 136th Street and Grosvenor Road in Surrey early Friday morning.

Dozens of other drive-by shootings have been investigated by police in
Abbotsford, Surrey, Vancouver and elsewhere, including a second Surrey
shooting early Friday outside a pub.

The most disturbing trend, say police, is the increased organization
of some Indo-Canadian gangsters, such as a Vancouver-based group
calling itself the Independent Soldiers, and battling rival groups
involved in drug trafficking.

On Sept. 10, Vancouver police were called to the downtown nightclub
Tonic where members of the Independent Soldiers and the
Abbotsford-based UN gang attacked each other with bar stools and
broken bottles.

Two men were taken to hospital with injuries, but did not cooperate
with police. No charges were laid.

Independent Soldiers' kingpin Sukhvinder Singh (Bicky) Dosanjh was
killed in a car accident at Marine and Main Street two weeks ago,
leaving a void in the evolving organization with links going back to
notorious cocaine dealer Bindy Johal.

Dosanjh, a graduate of John Oliver secondary, is the brother of Gerpal
Singh (Paul) Dosanjh, who was gunned down in March 2004 at the Gourmet
Castle Restaurant in the 2800-block of East Hastings and who was also
involved in the drug trade.

Paul Dosanjh had survived being shot in the head in August
2003.

The Dosanjh brothers are first cousins of Ron and Jimmy Dosanjh, among
the original group of Indo-Canadian gangsters who were taken out in
separate hits in 1994 and 1995. The high-profile murders were believed
to have been arranged by Bindy Johal, their former
associate-turned-rival in the cocaine trafficking world.

Johal was then murdered on the dance floor of a Vancouver nightclub in
December 1998 in a targeted hit arranged by his former associate Bal
Buttar. Buttar remains a blind quadriplegic after an attempt on his
life in August 2001 by members of his own crew.

Vancouver police staked out Bicky Dosanjh's funeral last Saturday at
Hamilton Harron Mortuary on Fraser Street where dozens of young men
with gang links came to pay their respects to the dead gangster and
former high school basketball star.

Vancouver police Insp. Kash Heed said the trend to more organized
Indo-Canadian crime groups is disturbing.

"You are starting to see them identifying themselves in a similar way
to gangs in the United States," Heed said. "Now you have Indo-Canadian
gang clothing with identifiable logos."

But police and Indo-Canadian community groups are also evolving in
their response to the Indo-Canadian violence. Ten months ago, the B.C.
government committed tens of millions of dollars to the new B.C.
Integrated Gang Task Force, which is targeting the violence among
young Indo-Canadian gangsters that has led to dozens of murders in the
last decade.

Delta Supt. John Robin is the officer in charge of the task force,
which has just reached its full staffing complement of 60.

"We've had unbelievable cooperation from all the departments and
agencies to put this together," Robin said in an interview.
"Everyone's aware that this is a long-term commitment."

Robin said the task force is putting its effort into targeting violent
individuals in groups who are currently active.

"What our purpose is is to target those individuals who are extremely
violent," he said, adding that some on the list may be suspects in
unsolved murders. "It takes probably more resources than one single
department or detachment could put together."

Robin said the Indo-Canadian gangsters do not follow the model of true
organized criminals "and in some ways that makes them more dangerous."

The new task force is gathering and coordinating intelligence on the
Indo-Canadian gangs better than before, Robin said.

"That is one of the things we are really working hard on," he
said.

But they are also involved in major criminal investigations.

"We are just scratching the surface. We are in here for the long term
and none of us expect to turn this around overnight."

There have been several key arrests both in B.C. and Washington state
related to Indo-Canadian organized crime.

Last April and May, several alleged Indo-Canadian gangsters were
arrested in two separate kidnapping and unlawful confinement cases and
are now facing a series of charges.

And in the U.S., an alleged ecstasy dealer and would-be politician
named Ravinder Kaur Shergill was arrested after the Drug Enforcement
Agency taped her in an undercover sting operation.

One of the most high-profile arrests was of Vancouver lawyer Kuldip
Singh Chaggar, who was convicted in Seattle last April of tampering
with a witness in a drug case involving alleged Indo-Canadian crime
figures who were caught in a cross-border trafficking case.

Chaggar is now serving a year in jail, although he is appealing his
conviction.

RCMP Insp. Paul Nadeau, head of the regional drug section, said the
Indo-Canadians are primarily specializing in the transport of
marijuana, with so many in the community involved in the commercial
trucking industry. He said the Indo-Canadians are contracting to other
crime groups to deliver their product.

Nadeau said that the use of commercial trucks to transport pot to the
U.S. is up about 400 per cent over the last three years.

Jaskiren Sidhu, of the youth group UNITED, said it is disturbing to
learn of the increasing sophistication of the Indo-Canadian crime groups.

But he said the Indo-Canadian community is taking steps to prevent
further violence.

Groups like UNITED, VIRSA and others have been working with police and
government to come up with strategies to combat the problem.

"For the first time, the police, the community and governments are
coordinating their response in a very significant way," Sidhu said.

UNITED is doing mentoring and sports programs for youth and also
working with a production company to develop anti-gang public service
announcements.

"But there are no easy fixes. It is going to take a long time to
reduce the level of violence and the power of the crime groups," Sidhu
said.

The federal and provincial governments are committed to strategies to
end the violence.

A 10-person committee of Indo-Canadian professionals is working on a
report for the federal government, to be delivered this fall, on the
Indo-Canadian gang problem.

Other groups are also working within the community to warn kids to
stay away from gang life.

But there is still an attraction for youth to the mythic power of dead
gangsters like the Dosanjhs and Bindy Johal, Heed said.

"Some youth looked up to these people and they still look up to these
people as mentors," Heed said.

Proof of his belief are several websites still active where people
spout on about which Indo-Canadian gangster they admire most. Bindy
Johal still seems to get the most response, though other names of both
dead and living Indo-Canadian crime figures are bandied about as heroes.

What has changed is that the Indo-Canadian community is taking
ownership of the issue like never before, Heed said, with many groups
being formed to steer young people away from gang life.

"We are starting to see little pockets of success, with several
initiatives put in place in the last year," Heed said.

Vancouver police have been pro-active in following gang members to
ensure they are not carrying weapons when they come downtown on a
weekend to party.

"The message is if you come into Vancouver to party, you better
behave," Heed said.

Vancouver nightclub shootings have been down in the last year, though
there are still bar fights like the one that broke out Sept. 10.

Heed said that if Vancouver police become aware of a dispute between
rival groups that could lead to an attempt on someone's life, officers
get directly involved.

"We will go to the parents of these individuals and tell them what is
going on," Heed said.

Parents do what they can to keep an eye on their kid.

"We have had significant success with this particular
strategy.

But there are still problems.

Heed said there has been an "inordinate number of shots fired in
southeast Vancouver," the neighbourhood where many of the
Indo-Canadian gangsters still live.

"That is the area under my direct command. Fortunately, it has not
resulted in any injuries," Heed said. "There have been shootings into
vehicles, into houses or in the air. It is the bravado behaviour of
individuals when they are out partying."

While much of the Indo-Canadian gang violence used to take place in
Vancouver, it has shifted to cities east of downtown as the
Indo-Canadian population has grown in those areas, Heed said.

Abbotsford and Surrey have had more of the killings in the last year
and much of the gun action.

Vancouver police have also developed a graphic presentation on gang
violence, which they have given to families, community leaders and
"even to some youth at risk," Heed said.

Indo-Canadian Gang or Drug-Related Killings in the Last Year:

- - Sept. 30, 2005 -- Hardev Singh Sidhu, 27, was found shot to death in
a car at 136th Street and Grosvenor Road in Surrey. He is believed to
have been involved in the drug trade.

- - Aug. 28, 2005 -- Hartinder (Harry) Gill and his girlfriend Lexi
Madsen were gunned down at a busy intersection in Abbotsford. Gill was
facing an attempted murder charge at the time of his death and was
well-known to police. His house was hit by gunfire in July.

- - May 13, 2005 -- Surrey resident Dean Mohamed Elshamy, 30, was found
slumped in a late-model grey Audi in the parking lot of a Mac's store
at 72nd Avenue and Scott Road in Surrey. While Elshamy is Egyptian,
the intended target of the hit is believed to have been his buddy,
Sandip Singh Duhre, who was uninjured in both the May shooting and a
second incident in July 2005.

- - May 7, 2005 -- Inderjit Singh Rai, 23, shot to death about 2:30 a.m.
in the 9800-block 140th Street in Surrey.

- - April 2, 2005 -- Sukh Jawanda, killed on a rural road in Abbotsford.
His friend was injured in the shooting.