With Indian diplomats expelled, RCMP commissioner says 'significant reduction' in public safety threat
CTV
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says there has been a “significant reduction”to the public safety threat since six Indian diplomatic officials were expelled from the country last week.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme says there has been a “significant reduction” to the public safety threat since six Indian diplomatic officials were expelled from the country last week.
“I can confirm, from different techniques that we use in normal investigation and reach out from the community, I can confirm that there has been a significant reduction in the threats,” Duheme told CTV’s Question Period host Vassy Kapelos, in an interview airing Sunday.
“You look at some of the key players — and I said it in my in my statement on Thanksgiving Day — you had diplomats, as well as consular officials, that were involved, working on behalf of the Government of India, on top of agents as well,” Duheme said. “So, you look at the Government of Canada expelling these six people, had an impact on what we're seeing in South Asian communities.”
When asked by Kapelos about whether the prospective replacement of those diplomats would result in the public safety threat returning, the commissioner said it likely would.
“I think based on what I know, I would have a concern.”
In a pair of Thanksgiving Monday press conferences, the RCMP and the federal government accused Indian diplomats and consular officials based in Canada of engaging in clandestine activities linked to serious criminal activity in this country, including homicides and extortions.
Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly went a step further than the RCMP and said since-expelled Indian High Commissioner to Canada Sanjay Kumar Verma, along with five other Indian diplomats, are considered persons of interest in the murder of Sikh separatist leader and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar in B.C. last summer.
