45 extortion suspects identified by Calgary police

Calgary police say they have identified 45 people in connection with extortion incidents in the city this year. That information has been passed on to border officials, which could lead to the suspects being deported. (File)

Calgary police say they’ve been pursuing charges connected with a series of extortion attempts and border officials are close to ordering several suspects out of Canada.

The news comes as Edmonton police said two men in that city were deported by the Canada Border Service Agency for the same reasons.

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Both suspects, who cannot be named because of the CBSA’s immigration policy, had connections in several communities, including Calgary.

Officials say since the beginning of the year, there have been 41 incidents of extortion in Calgary, including 17 shootings.

As the investigations into extortion have progressed, police say 45 names have been submitted to the CBSA, which has led to “several removal orders.”

“We want the community to know that we are working closely with our partners to ensure public safety in Calgary,” police said in a statement on Thursday.

“We are committed to sharing more information as our criminal investigations progress.”

A Calgary criminologist says this crisis can be blamed on poor immigration screening policies.

“Let’s prevent these types of individuals from coming into the country in the first place,” said Kelly Sundberg with Mount Royal University.

The CBSA is continuing to work with police, but says its focus is on deportation, not criminal charges.

“Criminal matters always take precedence over immigration matters, meaning that foreign nationals charged with extortion crimes cannot be removed from Canada until criminal charges have been resolved and, if convicted, their criminal sentences have been served,” said the CBSA’s Kristine Conroy.

Across Canada, the CBSA has initiated 372 extortion-related investigations and, as of last week, 70 removal orders were issued.

Half of those are already complete.

Calgary police said some of those investigations involved individuals operating in the city but would not confirm how many people have been deported or what cases they were connected to.

With files from Tyson Fedor