24th September, 2023
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau relied on shared intelligence with US, Britain, Australia and New Zealand before accusing Indian agents for the murder in June of Sikh leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar.
U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Cohen made this known in an interview with CTV News, which will be aired today.
Cohen said Trudeau relied on the “shared intelligence among Five Eyes partners.”
Trudeau said on Monday that Ottawa had credible intelligence linking Indian agents to the murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Vancouver.
The accusation elicited an angry reaction from New Delhi, which denies it.
“I will say this was a matter of shared intelligence information.
“There was a lot of communication between Canada and the United States about this, and I think that’s as far as I’m comfortable going,” Cohen told CTV News.
The Canadian government amassed intelligence from both human and electronic sources in a months-long investigation into the murder, CBC News reported separately on Thursday.
Cohen did not comment to CTV News on the type of intelligence that had informed the Canadian government.
The U.S. made clear on Friday that it expected the Indian government to work with Canada on efforts to investigate the possible involvement of New Delhi agents in Nijjar’s murder.
“We are deeply concerned about the allegations that Prime Minister Trudeau has raised,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters in a press briefing.