- The Bishnoi gang exploited student visas to build a transnational criminal network across Canada.
- Crime rates among Indian student permit holders surged eighty-eight hundred percent between 2016 and 2024.
- Canada officially designated the group as a terrorist entity on September twenty-ninth, twenty twenty-five.
A Canada Border Services Agency report says the Bishnoi gang used student visas to widen its reach in Canada. The report surfaced in early August 2026.
It is titled The Bishnoi Gang: An Emerging Threat in Canada. The file describes a transnational criminal network, not a loose collection of local crews. It says the group built its Canadian footprint through the study-permit system.
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The numbers are stark. Crimes committed by Indian student permit holders in Canada rose 8,800% between 2016 and 2024. From 2019 to 2023, about 4,000 international students from India were charged with 17,929 criminal offenses. Roughly one-third involved serious or organized crime, and 97% were violent offenses.
Investigators said the gang looked for vulnerable young arrivals on study permits. Some became foot soldiers. Others worked as independent contractors. They carried out extortions and shootings for small sums or promises of protection. Goldy Brar offers the clearest example. He entered Canada in 2017 on a student visa for Thompson Rivers University, and the report links him to assassinations and extortion crises from Canadian soil.
Criminal vetting failed before entry. The report says that screening missed gang ties and left recruiters free to reach new arrivals. Canada had already listed the group under the Criminal Code as a terrorist entity on Sept. 29, 2025.
Canada had already moved to label the gang
Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said the designation would help investigators. He tied the listing to murder, shootings, arson, and extortion.
“Listing the Bishnoi Gang will help Canadian security, intelligence, and law enforcement agencies in combatting their crimes and making communities safer. the gang engages in murder, shootings, and arson, and generates terror through extortion and intimidation.”
The earlier listing matters because it framed the group as more than a street gang. The report says the same network had already developed enough reach to exploit a major immigration channel. That mix of mobility and violence ran through the file.
South Asian business owners absorbed the pressure
South Asian business owners felt the squeeze first. The report says community members faced WhatsApp extortion threats, then arson or shootings when they refused to pay. The pattern turned intimidation into a repeating cycle.
The agency also says designations inside the education system now matter. Designated Learning Institutions in Canada are under increased oversight. The goal is to keep the student visa program from becoming a loophole for criminal entry. Schools now sit closer to the center of the response.
