Surrey\u2019s South Asian community is feeling the impact of extortion-related shootings targeting businesses and residences, and the fear extends beyond its victims.<\/p>\n
Local realtor Birinder Sidhu, who has worked in Surrey for more than a decade, tells OMNI News that the psychological toll of the threats is beginning to influence buyer and seller behaviour.<\/p>\n
While there is no official data directly connecting extortion to dropping property values, he says hesitation is clearly growing in both residential and commercial markets.<\/p>\n
According to Sidhu, commercial property owners, especially small and medium-sized business operators, have been among the main targets of extortion calls, which has pushed some businesses to delay investments, pause expansion plans, or relocate altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cMany contractors have stopped running advertisements out of fear they will receive extortion calls,\u201d Sidhu said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe impact has been so severe that several construction sites have shut down. The market was already slow, and now activity has come to a near standstill.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sidhu says that extortion is not the only factor affecting real estate, but it has become impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
Even though authorities report a recent decrease in violent incidents, fear continues to shape decision\u2011making.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re hearing that when individuals receive extortion calls and can\u2019t pay, they are pressured to provide phone numbers of other prominent people in the community,\u201d Sidhu explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cOut of fear, some end up sharing those contacts. We are receiving reports of such cases.\u201d<\/p>\n
Banquet halls see drop in bookings as fear overshadows South Asian celebrations<\/p>\n
The effects are also spreading into Surrey\u2019s wedding, banquet, and hospitality sectors \u2014 industries closely tied to South Asian cultural celebrations.<\/p>\n
Venues that were once fully booked are now seeing noticeable drops in reservations.<\/p>\n
Jatinder Jay Minhas, owner of Reflection Banquet Hall, tells OMNI News that the downturn is driven by both financial uncertainty and fear.<\/p>\n
\u201cBusinesses now feel compelled to increase visible security as a deterrent. This affects customer confidence and puts an unnecessary financial burden on small and mid\u2011sized businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says that what should be a busy celebration season has instead become a period of worry.<\/p>\n
\u201cHigh-profile murders, including Mr. Sharma<\/a> and Mr. Sahsi<\/a>, happened in broad daylight with no leads,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cSolving such cases requires more police resources and more officers on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n According to police data, as of February 17, Surrey has recorded:<\/p>\n 53 reported extortions,<\/p>\n 11 shots fired,<\/p>\n 2 arsons,<\/p>\n 31 victims (17 repeat victims),<\/p>\n 5 extortion\u2011related arrests by the Surrey Police Service this year.<\/p>\n Community members say Surrey\u2019s long-term economic fundamentals remain strong, but restoring confidence will depend on improving safety.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrey\u2019s South Asian community is feeling the impact of extortion-related shootings targeting businesses and residences, and the fear…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-498770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}