Law enforcement authorities in America, Canada and Europe have announced the arrest of 24 people with links to India-based transnational organized crime groups for criminal acts such as racketeering, shooting, extortion and even the 2023 assassination of Hardeep Singh Nigar in Canada.
In total, 37 people have been charged with a number of offences, including gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who is currently imprisoned in India.
A statement from the US Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles alleges that Bishnoi and his associates directed a transnational organized crime group from his cell “using smuggled cell phones and other voice IP devices smuggled into his cell” and directly accuses them of ordering Al-Najjar’s assassination.
Authorities said the arrests came after a years-long investigation into the activities of organized crime groups with links to India.
“Today’s law enforcement action – ‘Operation Hardball’ – is the result of a years-long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates that engage in extortion, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, trafficking of large quantities of drugs across international borders, and other crimes around the world whose influence is particularly felt in the Indian diaspora,” a US Department of Justice statement said.
Law enforcement authorities are still searching for 10 fugitives, seven of them in the United States, two in India, and one in Europe.
The indictments focus largely on the activities of Lawrence Bishnoi and his associates such as Goldie Brar, as well as the Bhagwanpuria gang, which is headquartered in India, with members reportedly spread across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Many defendants could face a mandatory prison sentence of between 10 years in federal prison and life in prison, and a statutory maximum sentence of life in federal prison if convicted.
According to the Ministry of Justice, the Bishnoi gang is accused of engaging in violent activities in the countries in which it operates and using violence “to sow a climate of fear, especially in India and among Indian diaspora communities around the world.”
Bishnoi and Brar were also accused of ordering the assassination of Hardeep Singh Najjar, a pro-Khalistan figure, as he was leaving a Sikh temple in Canada on June 18, 2023.
Investigators said that Anmol Bishnoi (who was arrested in the United States in 2024) and Goldie Brar were running the activities of the gang headed by Lawrence Bishnoi, who has been imprisoned in Sabarmati, Gujarat since August 2023. In recent years, the gang has been accused of carrying out several high-profile murders, such as those of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique and Punjabi rapper Sidhu Musiwala. It routinely carries out extortion operations in collaboration with other gang leaders who terrorize celebrities, industrialists, political functionaries and athletes.
“Their syndicate is spread across states (and union territories) which include Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Bihar and Jharkhand, and recruitment, payments to gang members, supply of arms etc. are managed from abroad, mostly by Anmol, Goldie Brar and a few other close aides of Lawrence,” a law enforcement officer in India told . HT.
The Bishnoi gang is also closely linked to pro-Khalistan groups, including Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and agencies feel that Anmol Bishnoi and Goldie Brar are running those operations as well.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has dubbed this entire network the “new underworld.”
In its chargesheet filed in March 2023 over gang activities, the NIA said the nexus of gangsters and pro-Khalistani elements and their links with the music industry, singers, kabaddi players and advocates were operating on the lines of the pre-1993 Mumbai blasts era when extensive underworld links with businessmen and the film industry emerged.
According to the NIA, a large amount of money earned by Lawrence Bishnoi through his activities is being sent to Canada, the United States, Thailand and Australia for the use of gang members. His gang has 700 members, who the NIA says have made millions of rupees over the years. Overall, nearly 300 gangsters and mid-level criminals have been arrested by the NIA and Delhi Police as part of a larger crackdown since August last year.
According to US law enforcement authorities, the Bishnoi gang is also accused of being involved in international drug trafficking and stealing drug shipments from rival gangs. Similar drug trafficking charges were revealed against members of the Punjab-based Bhagwanpuria gang and a group led by Ravinder Singh Dhanda, based in Canada.
“Transnational criminal gangs that spread fear, drugs, and violence will face the full force of justice and the weight of the federal government,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essay.
“Working together, law enforcement in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organizations wherever they operate. There is no safe haven for these thugs,” he added.
