19-Year-Old Indo-Canadian From Winnipeg Charged With Kidnapping And Posing As Cop

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Harpreet Singh Kanda, 19, has beencharged with impersonating a police officer,extortion, possession of a weapon,kidnapping using a firearm, and carryinga concealed weapon.

WINNIPEG — A 19-year-old Indo-Canadian man is charged after posing asa cop allegedly tricked a local family formonths before kidnapping their 14-yearoldson. Police say that a man first introducedhimself as a police officer fivemonths ago and was befriended by thefamily. “The individual had made contactwith the family and for a period of timeconvinced the family and the communitythat he was a police officer with theWinnipeg police service,” Const. JasonMichalyshen said.Harpreet Singh Kanda, 19, has beencharged with impersonating a police officer,extortion, possession of a weapon,kidnapping using a firearm, and carryinga concealed weapon.Using the trust he had gained with thefamily, Michalyshen said Kanda was ableto convince the 14-year-old boy that hewas a suspect in an assault case he wasinvestigating. On Jan. 11, police say thatthe suspect took the boy to a downtownhotel where the boy was told that hewould have to stay in the hotel room toavoid going to jail. Police say a replicapellet handgun was produced to furtherconvince the boy of his identity.The family of the victim, believingKanda to be a cop, reached out to himafter the 14-year-old went missing.Kanda was even present when the policetalked to the family about the missingboy’s whereabouts.Later, the family received an anonymousnote asking for money for the safe returnof the victim. “I can’t recall an incidentwhere we had an individual go to theselengths to try and extort money from afamily,” Michalyshen said, noting that thesum of money was a “significantamount.” After the suspect had left thehotel room, police say the boy eventuallyleft and was able to make contact with hisfamily. At the same time, Michalyshensaid that police were starting to noticethat there was something “not quiteright.” “As the investigation evolved andwe spoke with (the man) further, therewere certain things that just weren’t quiteadding up,” Michalyshen said.Police connected the dots and were ableto make an arrest.The boy was returnedto his family unharmed.A person impersonatinga cop is quite concerning forpolice, Michalyshen said. “As a policeagency that is something we take veryseriously and when we find individualsengaged in that type of activity, there isno question that we will be activelyinvolved in pursuing charges,” he said.Courtesy QMI Agency

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