Dismantled gang worked on ‘contract basis’
Months-long investigation of ‘Gill group’ culminates in arrests and seized guns
A violent Lower Mainland gang was contracting itself out to commit murders for larger, more established organized crime groups, Vancouver Police Supt. Mike Porteous said Thursday.
But the “Gill group,” headed by 21-year-old Taqdir Gill, has now been dismantled after a monthslong investigation that resulted in seven arrests and the seizure of four guns, Porteous said.
“Project Temper, a gang violence suppression operation, has resulted in the dismantling of the Gill group. This violent crime group was comprised of several individuals,” Porteous told reporters. “The VPD is committed to aggressively targeting people who pose the most risk to our communities.”
Gill, Walta Abay, 23, and Hitkaran Johal, 19, are all charged with conspiracy to commit murder between Oct. 5 and 27, 2017.
Both Gill and Abay are also charged with possession of a loaded, restricted or prohibited firearm on Oct. 26, and being in a vehicle knowing there was a gun inside.
Porteous said the murder conspiracy involved “several victims,” some of whom were rival gang members.
But a Vancouver businessman with no gang links was also targeted by the group, Porteous said. None of the victims are listed in court documents obtained by Postmedia.
Porteous said at one time the Gill group was aligned with the Kang faction of Brothers Keepers, which has traditionally been on the Red Scorpion side of a decade-long regional conflict.
But Postmedia has learned that the Gill group had switched allegiances to the United Nations side.
“I would suggest that they were working within a cell themselves, but they were working more on a contract basis for other crime groups or bigger crime groups,” Porteous said.
“The way these gangs are structured ... across the region, there’s sort of the Red Scorpion-associated people and on the other side there’s the United Nations-associated people.”
He said smaller groups of upstarts or younger would-be gangsters form their own smaller gangs and align themselves with one side or the other.
Also charged are Simrat Lally and Pawandeep Chopra, both 20, and two youths who were 17 when their alleged offences occurred and therefore cannot be identified.
Lally is facing counts of conspiracy to discharge a firearm and conspiracy to commit arson, as well as two counts of possessing a firearm and one of being in a car containing a gun. Chopra allegedly possessed a loaded or restricted firearm on Oct. 30 in Vancouver. One youth is facing firearms charges while the other is charged with conspiracy to commit arson.
Porteous said the Gill group came to the attention of antigang investigators after a series of shootings last August.
“There was a spike in gang violence,” he said.
“They were proactively targeted. We used a variety of police methods to gather evidence, including surveillance.”
Because the gang operated across the region, the VPD worked with the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, Porteous said.
CFSEU Chief Officer Kevin Hackett said the teamwork is “critical” and will continue.
“The co-ordinated and strategic engagement, disruption, and enforcement efforts that we have collectively undertaken since the start of this joint operation will continue as part of our long-term regional strategy,” Hackett said.
Even young gangsters who are not criminally sophisticated, like those in the Gill group, seem to have easy access to firearms, Porteous said.
“We are seeing more and more weapons on the street. We are close to the border and a lot of stuff comes from across the line,” he said. “They are easily accessing weapons, so it is not that difficult. They are out there on the market for them to purchase.”
Porteous defended anti-gang programs aimed at prevention, despite the young ages of those involved in the Gill group.
“There are 19-, 20- and 21-yearolds conspiring to commit murder, so apparently it wasn’t sinking in for them. But it does work for many others,” Porteous said of programs like End Gang Life. “The overall education and prevention strategies that the police are using across the region are reducing (gang involvement) at the grassroots level.”