A former employee of a Brampton business is facing extortion charges after allegedly threatening its owner with violence earlier this month.
Peel Regional Police’s Extortion Investigative Task Force (EITF) started an investigation on Feb. 11 after the accused allegedly started threatening the owner, their family and staff with violence if the business continued to operate.
Police said the former employee “claimed to have ties to the mob,” and would use those connections to force the victim to shut their business down. All of the threats were made over the phone, either through calls or text messages, police said.
On Monday, the EITF identified the accused as 33-year-old Hitesh Bansal and arrested him in Hamilton.
Officers said he is facing three counts of extortion charges. The charges have not been tested in court.
The arrest comes as a multi-jurisdictional investigation into extortion attempts targeting South Asian businesses in Peel Region continues.
Earlier this month Peel police said that its taskforce was investigating 29 cases and had made a total of five arrests.
