16 Punjabis booked for theft, fraud in Canada

Sukhmeet Bhasin

Tribune News Service

Bathinda, June 29

The Canadian police has booked 16 Punjabi men for over 140 offences, including mail theft and fraud worth over $ 5000 following a week long investigation.

Official sources said that the investigation was carried out by the 21 Division Criminal Investigation Bureau of Peel Region Police which also included probe into  forged document, possession of the stolen property, and possession of controlled substances.

The residents of Brampton, Mississauga, and York Region charged for various offences in this case are Gurdeep Bains (46) from Brampton, Hartinder Randhawa, (37) from Brampton, Taranjeet Virk (37) from Woodbridge, Harmeet Khakh (28) from Brampton, Gurdip Singh (28) from Brampton, Harjinder Singh (31) from Brampton, Gurkamal Mehmi (38) from Brampton ,Gurvinder Kang (38) from Brampton,Gurpreet Singh (21) from Brampton, Suhail Kumar (21) from Brampton, Rattan Preetam (26) from Brampton, Rupinder Sharma (25) from Brampton ,Joga Singh (30) from Toronto ,Varinderpal Kooner (43) from Brampton, Harman Singh (21) from Brampton and Kuldeep Sandhara (27) from Brampton.

According to the Canadian police, they began a multi-jurisdictional investigation in collaboration with Canada Post , Halton Regional Police Service, Ontario Provincial Police, and numerous financial institutions last month after scrutinizing more than 100 reports of mail theft between January and April and discovering links to a group of individuals residing in Brampton.

Investigators learned that the accused would allegedly steal mails by breaking into Canada Post mailboxes or individual roadside residential mailboxes targeting cheques, credit cards, and identification documents. The accused would then allegedly alter and deposit the stolen cheques into various banks before withdrawing the funds fraudulently.

On Wednesday, June 16 and 17, 2021, searches were conducted at residences in Brampton, where officers located hundreds of pieces of mail, stolen/altered cheques, printers, scanners, and other tools used to forge documents. Throughout the six weeks, investigators also located six stolen vehicles used by suspects involved in mail thefts. Further arrests and charges are anticipated in relation to this investigation.