Man wanted Canada-wide just hours after prison release re-arrested, VPD says

Harjot Singh Samra has been re-arrested, the Vancouver Police Department said Wednesday. He was wanted Canada-wide within hours of his release from prison on Aug. 10, 2023. (VPD)

Vancouver police say a man for whom a Canada-wide arrest warrant was issued just hours after his release from prison last week has been re-arrested.

Harjot Singh Samra is once again in police custody, the Vancouver Police Department said in a news release Wednesday.

Samra was released from prison on Aug. 10 and scheduled to report to a halfway house that day.

He never did so, according to police, who said they spotted him that evening driving a vehicle near Cambie Street and Marine Drive.

Officers attempted to initiate a traffic stop, but the 27-year-old "drove away at a high rate of speed."

Last week, police described Samra as "a federal offender charged for numerous drug and weapons offences." They also said they would be recommending several new dangerous driving charges against him.

Past statements from police regarding gang-related drug busts have included the name Harjot Singh Samra. In 2017, a 21-year-old by that name was charged with offences related to firearms and weapons trafficking as part of a VPD-led gang investigation dubbed "Project Tariff."

Project Tariff was, itself, part of a larger multi-jurisdictional anti-gang investigation known as Task Force Tourniquet. That effort had resulted in 27 convictions and the seizure of more than 170 firearms, more than 50 kilograms of drugs and more than $2 million worth of cash, jewelry and high-end vehicles as of August 2021, according to police.

The VPD said Wednesday that Samra would remain in custody while awaiting his next court appearance.