Bishnoi gang members charged with ordering hit on B.C. Sikh leader, U.S. announces arrests

Three men in British Columbia have been arrested and charged in connection with a major crackdown by law enforcement in the United States, Canada and Europe connected with three India-based transnational organized crime groups, officials with the FBI announced on Tuesday.

In a joint press conference on Tuesday, the RCMP and the FBI announced several arrests and charges against the leaders of three global organized crime networks: Lawrence Bishnoi, Ravinder Dhanda and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria.

RCMP said these groups have been engaged in extortions, drug trafficking, kidnapping and widespread violence, namely in the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023.

Nijjar was gunned down outside the Guru Nanak Singh Gurdwara in Surrey in June 2023.

Lawrence Bishnoi is in prison in India and Satinderjeet Singh, 32, a.k.a. “Goldy Brar,” of Punjab, India, is alleged to be the North American leader of the Bishnoi enterprise.

“The charges set forth in the indictment include allegations that the Bishnoi, that Lawrence Bishnoi and Goldy Brar directed the 2023 assassination of a prominent Sikh leader in Canada identified by his initials H.S.N. in the indictment,” Bilal A. Essay, First Assistant U.S. Attorney, said at the press conference on Tuesday.

“The gang used this assassination and other high-profile acts of violence to terrorize Sikh and other Indian communities, and they used acts of violence to legitimize and bolster widespread extortion schemes.”

In the indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice, it states that no later than June 18, 2023, Bishnoi and Singh ordered the assassination of H.S.N.

No later than June 18, 2023, four people agreed to assist with the assassination of H.S.N.

No later than June 18, 2023, defendant Bishnoi provided one co-conspirator with a photograph of, and multiple addresses for H.S.N. to facilitate the assassination.

On June 18, 2023, co-conspirator 1 and co-conspirator 2 shot and killed H.S.N. as H.S.N. was leaving the Gurdwara in Surrey.

The Canadian government in September 2025 designated the Bishnoi enterprise as a terrorist entity.

In November 2023, Bishnoi claimed responsibility for a separate shooting that occurred at the Vancouver home of a prominent Indian actor and singer and warned in the Punjabi language in a Facebook post, “no one can save you from us.”

United States v. Dhanda, et al.

Ravinder Singh Dhanda, 57, a.k.a. “Randy,” “Rolex” and “John Wick,” of Vancouver, Jaskarn Baghri, 50, a.k.a. “Baba,” of Surrey, Gurtej Singh Smagh, 43, a.k.a. “Simba,” of Creston, and eight other defendants are charged in an eight-count indictment returned June 23 alleging they transported, smuggled and distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the U.S. into Canda.

According to the indictment, Dhanda operated a drug distribution network that provided international smuggling services for bulk quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine to drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. The FBI stated in a release that he negotiated transportation rates and logistics with these DTOs and subcontracted the storage and transportation of these drugs.

The cocaine and methamphetamine were concealed and transported on long-haul semi-trucks from the greater Los Angeles area — including Los Angeles, West Covina, Ontario, Fontana and Perris — to the U.S.-Canada border. Sometimes, farm trucks from working farms were used to hide the narcotics en route to Canada, the FBI stated in a press release.

The indictment specifically alleges the shipment of 430.1 kilograms (948.2 pounds) of cocaine from July 2023 to November 2024.

The indictment then states that on Jan. 20, 2025, Dhanda, Baghri and Smagh met with an undercover agent in South Surrey to coordinate logistics for smuggling future loads of cocaine and methamphetamine out of the United States and into Canada, at which meeting defendant DHANDA stated he intended to start a new “cartel”.

Dhanda would negotiate transportation rates and logistics with representatives from drug trafficking organizations located in the United States, Mexico, and elsewhere for transporting cocaine and methamphetamine from the United States to Canada.

Dhanda and Baghri would oversee and manage the storage, transportation, and international smuggling of cocaine and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Canada border, according to the indictment.

Smagh would gather information related to the timing and location of border inspections and other enforcement actions from an individual working for the Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) to assist with smuggling cocaine and methamphetamine across the U.S.-Canada border, the indictment states.

It charges one count of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute controlled substances, one count of conspiracy to export controlled substances, one count of operating a continuing criminal enterprise, and five counts of possession with intent to distribute cocaine.

The three men are set to appear in B.C. Supreme Court at 2 p.m. on Tuesday.

United States v. Bhagwanpuria, et al.

Bhagwanpuria, 38, of Punjab, India, is a gangster imprisoned in India, an associate-turned-rival of Bishnoi, and founded his own criminal enterprise in India’s Punjab state, according to the FBI.

According to an indictment from the U.S. Department of Justice, the Bhagwanpuria organized crime group included more than 1,000 members worldwide and operated as a transnational criminal syndicate headquartered in India.

He “would direct and coordinate acts of violence” in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere, including, but not limited to “kidnappings, assaults and extortion schemes,” the indictment states.

The group would transport cocaine, methamphetamine and other controlled substances across the U.S. and into Canada and it engaged in weapons trafficking in the U.S. and would then sell those weapons there or smuggle them to Canada, according to court documents.

It stated that the organized crime group rewarded loyal members in India by sending them to operate in foreign countries, including Canada and the U.S.

In total, 24 people have been arrested in what the FBI called Operation Hard Ball, a years-long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates involved in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, trafficking narcotics across international borders and other crimes around the world.

In total, 37 defendants, including two defendants who ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned in India, are charged across three indictments unsealed on Tuesday, the FBI said.

“This is a big moment for the RCMP and for public safety in Canada, the United States and around the world,” RCMP Commissioner Mark Duheme said in a release.

“It is a reminder of what can be accomplished when we work together with partners both in Canada and abroad, meeting criminals where they operate, targeting the leadership structures of these criminal groups, and ending their ability to terrorize and extort people. At the same time, we’re putting a stop to a significant flow of drugs and firearms into Canada.”

Law enforcement is still looking for seven fugitives, including seven in the U.S., two in India and one in Europe.

Officers also seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and one kilogram of heroin, along with $40,000 in cash and a dozen firearms.

“Today’s coordinated operation strikes at the heart of three brutal transnational organizations that have terrorized families, exploited communities, and stolen lives through ruthless acts of violence in the U.S. and abroad,” Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office, said.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

-with files from The Canadian Press