Hardeep Singh Nijjar killing: RCMP discuss arrest of alleged Indian hitmen in BC Sikh leader's death

hello everyone thank you all for joining us today my name is Sergeant Timothy parate the media relations officer for the integrated homicide investigation team I'm joined today by assistant commissioner David to Federal policing officer in charge Pacific region superintendent Mandy mooker officer in charge of the integrated homicide investigation team assistant commissioner Brian Edwards officer in charge of the Siri RCMP Det M and Corporal SAR sarjit s media relations officer with the Siri RCMP Detachment we're here today to provide an update regarding the investigation into the homicide of Hardeep Singh Niger statements will be read by assistant commissioner tabul and superintendent mooker both of which will also be read in French following the statements and comments by assistant commissioner Edwards there'll be a question and answer period Corporal s is available to assist with any questions requiring Punjabi translation super following the question and answer period myself and assistant commissioner tul will be available to answer questions in French while Corporal s will be available to answer in Punjabi I'll now turn the microphone over to assistant commissioner tul good morning and thank you for joining us today I am assistant commissioner David tuul commander of the federal policing program in the Pacific region today we are here to announce significant developments about the investigation into the murder the murder of Hardy Zang ner that took place on June 18th 2023 in Sur BC following many months of investigative work by the integrated homicide investig team with close collaboration assistance from the federal policing uh program in BC RCMP national headquarters the surve RCMP Detachment and other partner agencies three suspects have been arrested and charged for their alleged involvement in the killing of Mr Nar now with unequivocal commitment to the administration of justice and with reverence to the upcoming judicial process on this matter we are not able to make any comments about the nature of the evidence collected by police nor can we speak about the motive behind the murder of Mr ner however understanding uh this situation has attracted considerable and very broad public interest I will say this matter is still very much under active investigation I will underscore that today's announcements are not a complete account of the investigative work currently underway there are separate and distinct investigations on going into these matters certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today and these efforts include investigating connections to the government of India the RCMP Federal policing program ihit our Municipal partner agencies are responsible for protecting Canadians from the most serious criminal threats posed by domestic and international criminals today's enforcement actions demonstrate our Relentless commitment and ability to combat the most sophisticated threats and complex criminality facing our nation here today we have assistant commissioner Brian Edwards officer in charge of the Sur RCMP who will be available with superintendent moer and I to answer any questions you may have at the conclusions of this press briefing but first I would like to congratulate the men and women of AIT for the outstanding dedication and the results achieved I would also like to thank the RCMP National Security program particularly here in BC for their unparalleled work ethics and dedication to to serve our country uh on the separate investigative efforts underway and also thank Siri Detachment for their continued and seamless collaboration and support the commitment and skills of these investigators are second to none and I'm very proud of their work and their accomplishment sing n sing ner Grand for Brian Edwards and I will now invite superintendent moer who will provide you with additional details of this investigation into the murder of Mr ner thank you thank you good afternoon everyone my name is superintendent Mandy mooker and I'm the officer in charge of the integrated homicide investigation team on June 18th 2023 Hardeep Singh nider was fatally shot and killed as he departed ganic s Gara in Siri shortly thereafter IIT was called and to conduct of this investigation over the past 10 months I had as led investigation in partnership with internal and external Partners to advance this investigation through complex investigative techniques and tremendous support from the community we were able to gather significant evidence that led us to the individuals that were responsible for this homicide I here today to announce that we arrested and charged three individuals for first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to Hardeep nider homicide I had investigators along with Edmonton Services Edmonton Police Services and numerous other RCMP resources took custody of all three of these individuals in Edmonton Alberta the following three individuals were charged for this homicide 22-year-old gar BR who's an Indian national who was residing in Edmonton Alberta 22-year-old cuml prit Singh who was an Indian national who was also residing in Edmonton Alberta 28-year-old Kar PRI Singh who is also an Indian national residing in Edmonton Alberta we will be disseminating photos of these accused men and hopes of uh any information in relation to their presence in sui during the time of the offense this investigation does not end here we are aware that others may have played a role in this homicide and we remain dedicated to finding and arresting each one of these individuals at this time I want to take a moment to recognize and thank cflcc Edmonton Police Service and Siri RCMP Detachment for their unwavering dedication from the onset of this investigation I would also like to thank the nider family the citizens of Siri and the gurun nxk gar executive for their patience and understanding we understand that the community is going to have a lot of questions however at this time as this process is going through the court process we may not be able to answer all the questions in closing I would like to say how proud I am of the ihit investigative team along with the investigative support unit for their dedication and determination and to continue this file to find out everyone that was responsible for the murder of hard niter I'd like to pass on now to assistant commissioner Edwards thank you uh good afternoon to everyone that is here uh my comments will be brief the murder of Mr Niger at the Scott Road Gara was outrageous and it was reprehensible it had a profound impact on the residents of sui and not withstanding today the announcing of charges those scars will remain in our community for some time however I want to share this that from day one this Community came forward to work with and alongside the police in advancing this investigation critically important was the executive of the Scott Road Gara whom I met on July 19th 2023 approximately one month after the murder of Mr Niger despite their intense grief and pain those Representatives of our community they provided their support their patience and their trust in the police to move this forward investigations in Canada are complex and they're very very honorous and they take time as such the support from those individuals and the community at large was essential in getting it to where we are today so the message that want to end with is is this our community is extremely strong it won't be intimidated and this community will work with the police and alongside the police to hold offenders accountable we would not be here today if that wasn't the case thank you I'll Now open up to a question and answer period before we s the first question we just have some ground rules uh please state your name and who you'd like to direct your question to if you'd like to ask your question in Punjabi what we'll do is have Corporal uh s come up repeat the question in English to whoever it's addressed to and then she can translate the answer back into Punjabi so we can start with whoever's first here yes you like just super you just mentioning pictures uh coming out and you want some more assistance from the community can you expand so anyone that had contact with these individuals during the time of the offense which would be in June 2023 in the Sur area if uh you have any interaction with them or You observe them uh we're asking that you call the ihit uh tip line and relate that information to us uh in in the hopes of building a timeline you know there are some sources that are reporting that these suspects are also linked to other murders including that of an 11y old can you speak to that is there anything you can us unfortunately those are different uh investigations that we are not currently a part of how however we are coordinating with all agencies throughout Canada um on a whole various or whole different um investigations right now um but I can't speak to their investigation unfortunately and I also want to ask you um of course there was a lot of you know public outrage about this deathe Minister Justin trau linked it to foreign interference uh is there any link between these suspects and the government of India what can you say about that so we are investigating if there are any ties to the government of India however uh as I said it's an ongoing investigation and I don't have any information to provide on that matter at this time the imigra stat individuals uh currently uh all three individuals are non-permanent residents in Canada however I can't speak to their specific immigration status can you detail how the gam how cfu was involved what Ro they play uh they provided members and support throughout our investigation along with intelligence and why was why were the information sheets sworn and screw screw um I would have to get back to you on that piece are you people more suspects uh currently we believe that there may be others involved uh and therefore uh there may be potential arrests or charges for others as well and would they be in Alberta as well or anywhere I can't speak to that can speak about the partner agenc us UK austral so we have been leing with International partners and uh we have collaborated with them on this investigation I can't speak to exactly who what men arrested were they known to the police before they were not known to the police have you been getting much cooperation from India uh I can't speak to that piece but maybe assistant commissioner tul can so I I could tell you that uh the federal policing program has um collaborated and communicated with partner agencies uh in India uh and that collaboration at uh communication continues to this day how would you characterize that collaboration giving you everything you need is uh I would well I'll be frank I'll cor characterize that uh collaboration as uh rather challenging and difficult uh for the last several years however uh the RCMP is very committed to continuing to establish a working relationship from a law enforcement to law enforcement agency so we're going to continue our efforts but it's been difficult sir you you said it dated back how many years several years can you pinpoint when that started oh listen over the last uh uh I'm I'm talking in my tenure in federal policing it's been several years I would argue uh the last six seven years can [Music] active how long have they sorry how long have they been in Canada and they come on stud again I won't be able to speak to their immigration status but they have been here between three to five years uh altogether three to five years um just you mentioned that still some more people that you may be arresting and charging at a future date what would you say to the uh community that might be a little bit alarmed at that idea uh what I would say is there's always the potential on these type of Investigations because of how complex it is that's why these individuals were charged with the conspiracy uh to commit murder so there may be others involved we don't ever want to say um that the investigation has stopped uh however um we have been uh partnering with all of our um partner agencies to make sure that the community is safe and how should we think about these individuals are they gun guns for high is it sort of what we should be picturing um I think that would be what we would want to say is throughout the court process the evidence will show the roles that these individuals played then I would uh suggest that the community would be able to really understand the roles of what these people actually did so I would let the evidence speak to what their assumptions for these individuals would be once they go through the court process correct yeah are you able to say whether these three men at the time of the arrest were together or were the arrest sep arrested separately were American agencies involved at all and is there an Nexus with their investigation that you'll be charge of last year that's good can I answer that um superintendent mooker earlier uh made reference to uh our collaboration with uh Partners both domestic and foreign and um I can confirm that we've had constant and we continue to have constant collaboration with uh agencies uh again both domestic and and international uh that includes agencies in the United States is there an excess with their investigation the charges that happened last year you're referring uh I'm assuming about the the Mr Peron the indictment um the I can't comment really any further on that and their indictment or the ongoing investigations that we have uh however um there are mutual of of these investigations are are of mutual interest how are these arrests connected Ed to the Edmonton shooting deaths of harprit Apple andye old son Gavin and the question for commissioner T because you already had so sorry go again with your questions the connections to yeah how are today's arrests connected to the Edmonton shooting deaths of harp Reit uple and his 11-year-old son Gavin so thank you for the question great question I can't comment again as superintendent muker stated earlier on another agency's active investigation what I could tell you is uh within the federal policing program uh a coordination team was born uh specifically out of the RCMP here in BC to support and collaborate with um all the other domestic agencies that have a variety of Investigations underway uh currently so I will not comment on that specific investigation except to tell you that we are uh very aggressively collaborating with all our partner agencies across the country okay and when will these three suspects if they were arrested in Edmonton when will they be brought back to BC for a court date so they will be required to be here by Monday morning can you unpack which partner agencies or units within the RCMP you worked with was inet involved which divisions were involved there was numerous uh partner agenes internally and externally that were involved inset was one of them definitely um but we had a whole collaboration of agencies and units that we worked with uh the list would uh go on and on which provin uh I would say at least three or four provinces I'm not going to speak to exactly what provinces because we do have ongoing investigations currently say anything more about the potential suspects and arrests are they definitely still in Canada how many people again when it comes to ongoing investigations I will not speak to that uh just to jeopardize any of those investigations uh um I can't speak to that at this time the allegations are that agents of the Indian government orchestrated Mr n's killing so what links do these three Coes have to Indian government so right now we're investigating their ties if any to the Indian government uh however that's part of our ongoing investigation can you confirm what date the men were arrested and provide more details about the circumstances under which they were arrested they were arrested this morning uh all in Edmonton um and at differing times I don't have those times were they at home um from my information two of the individuals were at home one was not given the location of the the conspiracy offense they it's say to say you're alleging they plan the murder here from Edon again that would be part of the evidence and I won't speak to that at this time charge the conspiracy could be either planned here or in Edmonton it could be either or the evidence is going to show what the timeline of that conspiracy and when it occurred were they me were they members of Temple here or in or anywhere else I don't have that information was the circumstance they did they resist arrest did they cooperate the three men were taken in custody without any issues or concerns would you be releasing their last name or their Ali names orious names uh We've we're going to be releasing their legal names besides there has been threat to other sick activist as well so do these suspect have any link to them have you made any collaboration any evidence what I can say is that we are investigating the murder of hard deep nider and that's what I can speak to at this point not any other uh investigations or any other threats you kind of spoke to it before Community but you know there was a time when Indians were not flying to India um because of fear of safety and you this is to prominent activist people are afraid to speak up and they're afraid to speak their opinion what can you say to the sick community on that and ensure that they yeah what I can say is that we would not be at this point without the bravery and courage of the sick Community coming forward uh for Hardeep ner uh murder investigation they were Brave and courageous to come forward and I believe that they would continue to do that for future investigations as well yeah um I have a question so there have been rumors that these three arrested people might connection I'll turn it over to assistant commissioner so um again I mentioned this earlier and it speaks to several of your questions there are um several U ongoing investigations uh currently in a lot of the matters that you are curious about of course their active investig Integrity of these investigations we will not comment any further the nature of the offenses under investigation or who's under investigation um but uh and to your earlier questions there's uh collaboration through a variety of units remember the federal policing program uh ncmp is a broad wide Nationwide organization and um within Federal policing alone there's also several programs that are uh involved or taking conduct of the investigation underway Council have they requested any information regarding the people that have been arrested uh I will not comment on any communication uh with uh counselor officials or uh or these things now Kim uh can I ask about the start of the conspiracy according to the CSO entry it was May 1st of 2023 could it have gone back earlier are these people potentially sleeper agents that have been in the country for a number of years so great question thank you um we're not at Liberty to answer that specific question of course because they are a matter it is a great question but is a matter very much at the center of uh of evidence and ongoing investigations um do you have just let I'll translate uh M Karen bar V uh sitland uh Ken like have they ever been charged in anything else or no and like is that they were believe that they were living in Edon at the time broke to and then brove back yes and can you talk a little bit more how they even came to radar like I appreciate you can't go full into details but you know any sort of ining on how they kind of came to your radar yeah I won't be able to speak to that because that directly goes into the evidence in regards to how they were identified um which I won't be able to speak to you have grounds to believe that these three men were in Sur at the time sing was shot yes any more details on the vehicle than being a we know anything else um I would have to get back to you in regards to further details but I'm sure uh Sergeant PR would be able to release that information are there grounds to believe that these individuals AR on student again I'm not able to speak to the immigration status are these suspects related to the I believe uh assistant commissioner will answer that previously we're not able to speak to that piece given that you're not allowed to share a lot of the evidence and motives that you've gathered what is your message to the community who is probably having all kinds of speculations about what Ur now uh my messaging to the community would be that uh the RCMP as a whole um Works to together collaboratively uh along with all of our agencies across Canada to make make sure that we provide Justice uh to those people that are put in these positions by these offenders before in between May 1st and the date of Mr nar's killing last year how many times were the suspects I don't have that information You' talked about the community helping a lot with investigations how how important were they in in finding I would say instrumental you on that I cannot because that would go directly to their um I would say if there is a threat uh and they feel a threat please contact the police and and and let us investigate that and feel comfort in the in the level of uh investigation that we've done not only in this investigation but for others leading us to us being able to charge three individuals for the murder of Mr Niner are these three to any of the duty to warn incidents in the past couple years so from the related questions I I see listen the RCMP uh take all of these uh information that come to our attention very seriously uh in all business lines of thecmp from the Detachment to of course Thomas investigations to Federal policing to your question about uh former duty to Warrant I will uh repeat the same thing we every piece of information that we that we receive uh is examined and we have and and in many cases it it has triggered in the past as you are alluding to uh obligations for duty to warrs we have a very uh elaborate and strict protocol when it comes to that uh we don't mess around with uh with the threats that we may receive and we are uh we engage in those Duty Wars very quickly but are those threats negated with these three now arrested well listen every time you take dangerous off offenders off the street um it's it uh it's it significantly mitigates uh issues of Public Safety for sure you won't say whether they're link to any of the other d uh I can't get into that so specifically these three people were recently arrived in the country in last three years are MP is probably looking or might have already looked at their background uh for that information have you reached out to the government of India or if you are going to reach out how is that working out for our so I could tell you that again as I stated earlier we very much welcome uh collaboration with the government of India and it's certainly uh it's law enforcement agency from from police to police uh and I can't comment on on uh further on previous Communications with these agencies where else they resided in Canada years I can only speak to them residing in Edmonton currently um however I don't have that information have the three suspect have the three suspects since they to change their facial features or anything uh yes thank you everybody um thank you everybody for coming out today thanks wel