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Edmonton police charge 6 people in ‘Project Gaslight’ arson extortion case
Global News
Six people have been charged and Canada-wide warrants have been issued for a seventh person in an Edmonton-area arson extortion investigation dubbed Project Gaslight.
Edmonton police said Friday morning that six more people have been arrested in an ongoing arson extortion scheme targeting South Asian business owners.
The Edmonton Police Service is now investigating 40 incidents related to the extortion series, dubbed Project Gaslight.
The most recent incident happened in the Cavanagh neighbourhood on Friday morning, involving an arson at an area apartment building. Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said it happened just after 3 a.m. at an apartment building under construction near Cavanagh Blvd. and 30th Avenue Southwest.
Police said the latest arrests were made on Thursday, when members of the EPS and RCMP executed search warrants at six locations in southeast Edmonton.
Four men, one male youth and one woman were arrested and charged. Police said Canada-wide warrants have been issued for a seventh person believed to be the leader of the criminal organization responsible for the extortions.
“From the standpoint of sheer volume of information our investigators reviewed, this was likely one of the largest investigations in the history of the EPS, resulting in substantial charges for all accused,” said Acting Insp. David Paton with the EPS organized crime branch.
Jashandeep Kaur, 19, Gurkaran Singh, 19, Manav Heer, 19, Parminder Singh, 21, Divnoor Asht, 19 and a 17-year-old male are all facing serious criminal charges, according to police.
Police said the six people face a total of 54 charges, including extortion, arson, intentionally discharging a firearm, break and enter, assault with a weapon, as well as a number of charges linked to committing an offence for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal organization.