Two Dozen Suspects Nabbed in Global Crackdown on Indian Crime Rings
A joint investigation spanning the United States, Canada, and Europe has led to the arrest of 24 individuals connected to Indian-based criminal organizations involved in murder, extortion, and drug trafficking.
Two Dozen Suspects Nabbed in Global Crackdown on Indian Crime Rings
A sweeping multinational probe has culminated in the detention of 24 suspects tied to criminal networks rooted in India, U.S. law enforcement revealed on Tuesday. Officers from America, Canada, and various European nations pooled resources to dismantle groups suspected of running protection rackets, carrying out hired killings, shaking down victims, and moving narcotics across borders.
Court papers made public this week highlight the 2023 shooting death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Canadian resident who campaigned for an independent Sikh homeland called Khalistan in India's northern Punjab area.
The sprawling case names numerous defendants, with prosecutors saying two kingpins allegedly called shots from behind bars inside Indian correctional facilities. While the majority of targeted individuals are now under lock and key, authorities are still hunting for ten fugitives.
Bill Essayli, who speaks for the Justice Department in the Los Angeles area, vowed that gangs operating across borders would meet stiff federal prosecution. "There is no safe harbor for these brutes," he declared.
California alone accounted for eleven of the two dozen arrests.
Patrick Grandy, second-in-command at the FBI's Los Angeles division, described the bust as a blow to "three brutal transnational organizations that have terrorized families, exploited communities, and destroyed lives through ruthless acts of violence."
Investigators believe Lawrence Bishnoi, a 33-year-old Punjab native, commissioned Nijjar's killing while incarcerated in India. Charging documents paint Bishnoi as a man who cloaked himself in religious and patriotic rhetoric to draw recruits into his fold across India, America, and beyond. From his cell, he is said to have steered a far-reaching underworld apparatus spanning continents, green-lighting political hits, ordinary homicides, drive-by shootings, shakedowns, abductions, and trafficking in both drugs and people.
Also named is Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, a 38-year-old former Bishnoi ally now running his own crew from an Indian prison. His organization reportedly boasts over a thousand operatives spread throughout North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Bhagwanpuria and sixteen co-defendants face accusations of directing a racketeering operation responsible for contract murders, kidnappings, extortion, and worldwide arms and narcotics smuggling, with particular focus on the U.S. and Canadian markets.
Additionally, Canadian police detained Ravinder Singh Dhanda, 57, who allegedly helped funnel hundreds of kilos of cocaine and methamphetamine weekly from the United States into Canada.
Source: Le Temps
Source: Le Temps