Two Indo-Canadian men associated with United Nations gang were arrested and charged with arson following the daylight killing of entrepreneur and former UN gang associate Vishal Walia, who loved to play golf at the posh University Golf Club near UBC and had just returned from a holiday trip to Europe before he was gunned down on Monday, October 17. The charges were laid Tuesday against Balraj Basra and Iqbal Kang, who were arrested in Richmond in connection with a burning vehicle found near Walia’s killing Monday. Just like one of controversial Sikh businessman Ripudaman Malik’s killers, Kang was out on bail on drug trafficking charges out of Abbotsford at the time of his arrest in Richmond following Walia’s killing. He is due in Abbotsford Provincial Court Nov. 9 for a preliminary hearing in that case. And he is due in Richmond Provincial Court Friday on the arson count related to the car fire. Both Basra and Kang remain in custody while police look to lay murder charges related to Walia’s killing.

By PD Raj – Senior Writer DESIBUZZCanada

With News Files

VANCOUVER – Two Indo-Canadian men associated with United Nations gang were arrested and charged with arson following the daylight killing of entrepreneur and former UN gang associate Vishal Walia, who loved to play golf at the posh University Golf Club near UBC and had just returned from a holiday trip to Europe before he was gunned down on Monday, October 17. 

Two United Nations gang associates have been charged with arson and other counts in connection with a burning vehicle found Monday near the scene of a gang hit.

The charges were laid Tuesday against Balraj Basra and Iqbal Kang, both of whom are United Nations gang associates who were arrested in Richmond in connection with a burning vehicle found near Walia’s killing Monday.

Just like one of controversial Sikh businessman Ripudaman Malik’s killers, Kang was out on bail on drug trafficking charges out of Abbotsford at the time of his arrest in Richmond following Walia’s killing. He is due in Abbotsford Provincial Court Nov. 9 for a preliminary hearing in that case. And he is due in Richmond Provincial Court Friday on the arson count related to the car fire.

Both Basra and Kang remain in custody while police look to lay murder charges related to Walia’s killing.

The pair and a youth were arrested Monday by Richmond RCMP after crashing on Highway 91 an hour Walia’s killing.

 was gunned down at the University Golf Club.

Walia was a one-time UN associate along with his close friend Aman Manj, who was killed in the parkade of a downtown Vancouver hotel on Sept. 15, 2021. His murder remains unsolved.

While neither Basra and Kang have been charged in the murder, the police agency cited in their court file is the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, reported Postmedia.

Both Basra and Kang are charged with arson damaging property in Vancouver, dangerous operation of a vehicle in Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster and Richmond, flight from police and possession of stolen property.

IHIT was called in to investigate as the RCMP has jurisdiction in the area. Ten minutes later, Vancouver police were called out to a burning vehicle near Crown and West 20th Avenue. Richmond RCMP then made the arrests about 10:45 a.m. after the suspect vehicle collided with a commercial truck and a police car.

Walia’s friends told Postmedia that they rejected the gang label and said he was a hard-working businessman and very close to his father Vijay. Together they operated businesses over the years, including Diamond Store Fixtures, which was incorporated in 1990. 

Postmedia reported that despite Walia’s success in business, he had ties dating back more than a decade to several prominent gangsters on Vancouver’s south slope who ended up in jail or dead in similar public shootings.

And in 2017, the B.C. government alleged he was involved in drug trafficking after Vancouver police stopped him and Manj in a vehicle in which officers found a secret compartment containing drug residue. Walia was also carrying almost $6,000, as well as an iPhone, a Samsung phone, a Blackberry and a OnePlus One cell phone. A court ordered the cash and phones forfeited to the director of civil forfeiture in August 2017.