Three significant indictments unveiled on Tuesday by U.S. prosecutors allege that organized crime networks based in India orchestrated political assassinations, extortion plots, and large-scale drug trafficking operations spanning across Canada, the United States, and Europe.
One of the indictments accuses alleged crime leader Lawrence Bishnoi and his close associate Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, of orchestrating the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023 outside a Sikh temple in Surrey, British Columbia.
According to U.S. authorities, 24 suspects have been apprehended in Canada, the United States, and Europe as part of Operation Hard Ball, a two-year investigation collaborated by the FBI, RCMP, and various international police agencies.
The prosecutors have charged 37 individuals in the three indictments, alleging that the group members were involved in a variety of criminal activities such as murder-for-hire, kidnappings, extortion, and trafficking of cocaine, methamphetamine, and firearms.
“These individuals are violent gang members who have committed heinous crimes,” stated Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. “They engaged in violent acts, including drug theft from other gang members, and they spared no one.”
Twenty-four people have been arrested for allegedly participating in three India-based transnational organized crime groups, international law enforcement officials announced.
Goldy Brar still at large
The initial indictment accuses Bishnoi and Brar of being behind Nijjar’s murder in June 2023.
Nijjar’s assassination led to a diplomatic dispute after then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claimed that Canadian intelligence linked Indian government agents to the killing. India has consistently refuted these allegations.
