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Notorious twins' guilty plea big win for gang unit |
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Kim Bolan October 8. 2005 |
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The notorious Adiwal brothers, twin gangsters at the centre of a major police investigation, have pleaded guilty to kidnapping and assault in one of the first successful prosecutions of significant players in Indo-Canadian organized crime.
Parminder Singh (Peter) and Manjit Singh (Mike) Adiwal were among those targeted by police, who spent $3.2 million and many months probing Indo-Canadian gangland murders.
That investigation came to a premature, dramatic end when Mounties swarmed a Burnaby apartment to rescue the Adiwals' kidnap victim, fearing -- based on wiretaps and surveillance -- that the man was about to be killed.
The twins were arrested in an early morning takedown in February 2003 involving the RCMP's Emergency Response Team and the Indo-Canadian Gang Violence Joint Task Force. Police swooped down on the Willingdon Avenue apartment building about 7:45 a.m., throwing flash grenades as they rescued the 34-year-old Surrey man.
"We realized that harm may be coming to the victim," Burnaby RCMP Const. Phil Reid said at the time. "He certainly was severely beaten."
The Adiwals entered guilty pleas Monday, but a ban was imposed on reporting the convictions by B.C. Supreme Court Justice William Ehrcke. Ehrcke agreed to lift the ban Friday after an application by The Vancouver Sun.
The Adiwals, who are 26, have faced numerous charges over the years, but most have been stayed or dismissed, including a previous kidnapping charge against Peter that bore striking similarities to the current case.
While there are now two guilty pleas in connection with the kidnapping and assault, police were forced to abandon the wider investigation because it was compromised by the Adiwal arrests. The Indo-Canadian task force was disbanded, though it has since been replaced by the new B.C. Integrated Gang Task Force, which is focusing on Indo-Canadian organized crime and a series of unsolved murders.
Court records show the Adiwal twins were arrested and charged several times over the years for offences ranging from driving infractions to theft and kidnapping.
Mike Adiwal was charged in 1999 with theft over $5,000 and the possession of tools used in a break-in. The charges were stayed a few months later. He was charged again in 1999 with theft, possession of stolen property and having a weapon, but those charges were also stayed.
Peter Adiwal faced a Vancouver robbery charge in 1997, but it was later stayed. In 2000 he was charged and later convicted of possession of a loaded weapon -- a sawed-off rifle -- and being the occupant of a vehicle containing a firearm. Adiwal won an appeal on the possession charge, because the appeal court ruled "there was no evidence that the rifle was loaded at the time it was found in Mr. Adiwal's possession. At best there was evidence that the rifle was loaded 15 minutes later when the vehicle in which Mr. Adiwal and others were riding was pulled over by the police."
Another weapons charge laid in 2002 was stayed, as was a charge of uttering threats. |
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Peter was also charged with Sambeer Chandi in a June 1998 kidnapping and extortion after a victim had been held in the basement suite of the Adiwals' Vancouver home and police determined the Adiwal family van had likely been used in the crime.
In 2001, a provincial court judge convicted Chandi, but acquitted Adiwal, though the judge said "he was probably a perpetrator."
"There are items in the van that are linked to the kidnapping i.e. the wrench, the bar and the bullets," Judge E.A. Arnold said, but added that it was only conjecture Peter Adiwal was directly involved. "The Crown's case falls just short in this regard."
The Adiwals' cousin, Davinder Singh Gharu, was gunned down in New Westminster in November 2002 as he drove Peter's Lincoln Navigator in what police suspect was a case of mistaken identity. The suspect in that murder, Gurkirpal Singh (Paul) Khela was later convicted in another gangland slaying and is currently in jail.
Shortly after the Gharu murder, police saw Peter Adiwal and several associates gather one night in a park on Westminster Highway near the residence of Khela's girlfriend. When the park was searched by police the next morning, a loaded Uzi and AK-47 were found abandoned on the children's swings. A smoke bomb was also recovered, but no charges were laid in connection with the incident.
Just three days later, members of both the Khela and Adiwal groups were involved in a shoot-out in Richmond. Shell casing littered the street when police arrived. One man was charged.
Peter Adiwal told a CBC reporter three years ago that he was just a businessman and not involved in Indo-Canadian gang activity. But he also predicted the tit-for-tat killings would continue and police could do nothing to prevent it. "I think whoever out there is responsible is going to get what they deserve and I think everything will just fall into place when it should, if it should," Peter Adiwal said.
The Adiwals will be sentenced on Oct. 21.
kbolan@png.canwest.com |
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The Vancouver Sun 2005 |
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