As the scourge of drug and gun violence affecting Metro Vancouver continues, Crimestoppers is making a special appeal to the South Asian community to help turn in illegal guns.
A Simon Fraser University report released last September concluded that Surrey has the highest crime rate in Metro Vancouver by a large margin.
There have been dozens of shootings in the Surrey area involving rival drug gangs from the Somalian and South Asian communities.
“When a gang member or a criminal has a gun, a friend, relative, or somebody else usually knows it. They may be anyone – a parent or sibling, wife or husband, girlfriend or boyfriend, a gang associate (or rival), or maybe even a server at a restaurant or club. Often, these associates are innocent, but they don’t report these weapons to anyone out of fear,” said Linda Annis, Executive Director of Metro Vancouver Crime Stoppers.
Working together, Crime Stoppers and local police forces have launched a major new campaign called “Cash for Guns” 
The goal of the campaign: get 500 or more of these weapons off the streets in the next year. 
“People may personally know individuals with these guns, but because they’re close, they may think it’s too risky to speak out and do something about it. We’re giving them the way to get past that,” said Annis.
“The caller’s motivation doesn’t matter. All we want is the anonymous tip as to who has the guns, and how police might find how it might be found and seize them,” 
Meanwhile, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. (CFSEU-BC) released its latest End Gang Life video titled “Don’t let this be your last Raksha Bandan last week that has got the community talking.
Geeta Reddy, CFSEU-BC Communications Strategist, said: “On August 29, South Asians will celebrate Raksha Bandan. The rakhi symbolizes love and the pledge of protection a brother makes to his sister. The underlying message of this latest video and poster is that too many young men have lost, and continue to lose, their lives to gang violence, leaving behind families and breaking their promise to protect their sisters.”
People can leave their anonymous tips in a variety of ways including downloading their information onto an iPad or iPhone app, calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, at www.solvecrime.ca, following the link on Crime Stoppers Facebook page, or texting a message to CRIMES (274637). Crime Stoppers accepts tips in 115 different languages.