Sikh advocates, Canadian politicians respond to 'Operation Hard Ball' crackdown on 3 India

Sikh advocates, Canadian politicians respond to 'Operation Hard Ball' crackdown on 3 India-based crime gangs

Police say they have 'dismantled' the leadership of 3 criminal organizations

Canadian politicians and some Sikh advocacy groups are reacting to the news of an international crackdown on three India-based crime organizations.

Canadian and American law enforcement officials on Tuesday announced charges against members of the gangs and alleged a variety of crimes from drug smuggling to violent extortions to murder-for-hire — including the assassination of a Sikh separatist leader on Canadian soil.

Federal authorities said the investigation, dubbed "Operation Hard Ball," began in response to rising violence in communities associated with the Indian diaspora, particularly in Canada, Europe and the United States. Thousands of officers on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border were involved.

At a joint news conference with the FBI and Los Angeles police, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said the operation “dismantled the leadership of three criminal organizations that inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe."

Several politicians have praised the work, but Sikh advocacy groups said some of their larger concerns around potential foreign interference have been left unanswered.

Nearly 40 people were charged in the operation, including four Canadians, three of whom were arrested in B.C. and another who is believed to be on the run in Europe.

The Toronto-based Sikh Federation and the World Sikh Organization of Canada welcomed the arrests and charges, but emphasized what the latter described as "significant questions … regarding the role of agents of the Government of India."

Canada 'must remain vigilant' about Indian foreign interference, CSIS report cautions

Carney won't say if there's Indian interference in Canada after cutting deals with Modi

One of the indictments unsealed Tuesday charged Lawrence Bishnoi, the imprisoned head of an Indian criminal gang, with ordering the assassination of a prominent Sikh separatist more than three years ago. The document said Bishnoi and Satinderjeet Singh, also known as "Goldy Brar," ordered the shooting of Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside his place of worship in Surrey, B.C., on June 18, 2023.

The indictment says Bishnoi used smuggled cellphones to oversee the operation from behind bars in India, giving a co-conspirator a picture of Nijjar and multiple addresses to facilitate the killing.

At the time, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said evidence linked India's government to Nijjar's assassination. Sikh groups maintain that the Indian government was involved in the killing of Nijjar, who was Sikh himself.

India has denied the allegations.

The U.S. indictment charging Bishnoi and Singh did not allege any role by the Indian government in Nijjar's killing, and RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland said they found no evidence that Indian officials were involved in any of the crimes under Operation Hard Ball.

Canadian Justice Minister Sean Fraser was effusive in his praise of the operation. He said Tuesday was an "extraordinary day" full of "remarkable opportunity" to lessen the effect of organized crime in Canadian communities and "send a message" to crime bosses at the top.

In Surrey, B.C., where dozens of homes and businesses have been shot at in recent years, Mayor Brenda Locke also thanked the law enforcement officers who worked on the case. She said she felt progress had been made, but stopped short of a fulsome victory lap.

"While these arrests are an encouraging step, there is still more work to do to protect businesses, families, and neighbourhoods from intimidation and violence," read a statement from her.

Arrests open up 'a lot more questions' about Sikh activist's murder: political analyst

Sikh organizations on Tuesday demanded more transparency from the Canadian government about its investigation into alleged interference by the Indian government.

"The public has a legitimate interest in understanding whether investigators have identified links to foreign state actors and what institutional measures are being taken to dismantle those networks," the Sikh Federation wrote in a statement.

Political analyst and commentator Supriya Dwivedi also said Tuesday's news raises more questions than answers when it comes to foreign interference and transnational crime and repression in Canada.

"The Indo-Canadian community right now is suffering quite a bit with a lot of rampant crime and hopefully this [investigation] puts a damper in it, but our community deserves to know whether our people are safe," she told CBC News.

With files from Jason Proctor, Rhianna Schmunk, Lauren Vanderdeen and Anya Zoledziowski