Operation Hard Ball Raids Target Indian Bishnoi Gang Members and Traffickers in California and Canada

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Los Angeles federal agents led a global operation targeting of the India-based Bishnoi Gang, known for extortion, drug trafficking and the assassination of Indian political figures, industrialists, actors and musicians in the US, Canada and India.

The raids Tuesday that saw the arrest of at least 11 California and over a dozen more across the US, Canada and Europe.

Operation Hard Ball was the result of a years-long federal undercover investigation into three Indian crime syndicates led primarily by Lawrence Bishnoi that engage in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, large-scale drug trafficking and other crimes.

Operation Hard Ball

This morning, agents conducted at least 50 raids in the US, Canada and Europe, taking at least two dozen suspects into custody.

As part of the investigation, law enforcement seized 1 ton of cocaine and heroin, $40,000 cash and a dozen firearms.

According to the indictment, a long term undercover operation occurred in Southern California and included a fake video of an extortion victim's house being shot at that was staged by law enforcement.

At least five defendants were arrested in Northern California area, primarily in Sacramento and Stockton and at least 8 were arrested in the Los Angeles and Inland Empire area. Others arrests occured in Indiana and Georgia, along with three in Canada and one in Spain.

Authorities are also hunting seven fugitives in the US, two in India and one in Europe.

“Transnational criminal gangs who spread fear, drugs, and violence will face the full force of justice and the weight of the federal government,” said First Assistant United States Attorney Bill Essayli.

“Working together, law enforcement in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Asia are determined to target and dismantle these criminal organizations wherever they operate. There is no safe harbor for these thugs.”

Lawrence Bishnoi

Bishnoi Gang

The Bishnoi gang is designated as a terrorist organization by the Canadian government and is reported to have infiltrated Cricket Canada to lead match-fixing and corruption within the organization.

The gang is led by 33-year-old Lawrence Bishnoi, long imprisoned in India, who runs the operation from his jail cell. His brother, , was recently arrested in .

The Bishnoi gang is affiliated with an eco-religious sect by the same name founded in the 15th century in Rajasthan, and they worship an Indian antelope called the Blackbuck, which they consider to be a reincarnation of their spiritual guru.

Bishnoi delegates control to regional leaders of the criminal enterprise to conduct “targeted killings, shootings, kidnappings, maimings, assaults, extortions, and drug trafficking,” court papers charge.

The indictment charges Bishnoi and eight other defendants with murder, racketeering, extortion and trafficking cocaine and methamphetamine.

Hardeep Singh Nijjar

Political Killings in Canada

The Bishnoi gang routinely targeted prominent religious, social, and political leaders with violence, according to court papers, and used these high-profile acts to terrorize and extort members of the community.

Among the crimes alleged in indictment is the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent separatist political and Sikh religious leader from India who was living in Canada at the time of his killing in 2023.

Nijjar was a well-known political dissident who advocated for the creation of a Sikh homeland in northern India that would be known as Khalistan. India previously designated him a terrorist in connection with those efforts. Former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused the government of India of being behind the assassination.

Bishnoi and his right hand man Satinderjit "Goldy Brar" Singh Brar are charged with ordering two gunmen to shoot and kill Nijjar, as he left a Sikh temple in British Columbia.

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

Members of the Bishnoi gang extorted victims through threats of violence, prosecutors charge, demanding in January 2026 that a wealthy Thousand Oaks resident make a $5 million payment.

The gang helped fund its activities through international drug trafficking and stealing drug shipments from rival gangs, often shipping cocaine in long-haul semi-trucks from the U.S. to Canada.

From March 2024 to July 2025, the Bishnoi stole more than 1,100 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine from rival drug trafficking gangs in the Los Angeles area. Including from organizations they were paid to smuggle the drugs for.

Satinderjeet Singh "Goldy Brar"

The FBI has issued a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and extradition of fugitives who remain at large, specifically Bishnoi's North American leader, Satinderjeet Singh "Goldy Brar."

He also took responsibility for the 2022 killing of Indian singer and politician Sidhu Moose Wala, according to a Facebook post by Brar.

Anmol Bishnoi, a younger brother of Lawrence, was deported from the United States to India last November in connection to the Moose Wala killing.

Jaggu Bhagwanpuria

Rival Bhagwanpuria Gang

The feds on Tuesday also targeted members of the Bhagwanpuria gang, which was founded by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, a gangster imprisoned in India who is an associate-turned-rival of Bishnoi, and founded his own criminal enterprise in India’s Punjab state.

The Bhagwanpuria gang has more than 1,000 members worldwide, with more than 100 members in the US. Prosecutors say the gang engaged in contract killings, drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortions, and weapons trafficking.

Members of the Bhagwanpuria gang extorted victims and dealt illegal firearms and drugs in LA and the Inland Empire. They also kidnapped and assaulted an unnamed victim in Manteca, California in July 2024 before transporting him to Fresno, where they demanded $50,000. The victim was later released on orders from the group's alleged leader.

Dhanda Gang

US prosecutors also charged British Columbia resident Ravinder Singh Dhanda, 57, with smuggling hundreds of pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the US into Canada.

Dhanda’s gang used semi trucks and farming trucks to move the drugs from Los Angeles, West Covina, Ontario, Fontana, and Perris to the US-Canada border, court papers say.

DEA agents arrested accused Dhanda gang drug trafficker Justin Guzman, of El Monte, at a Metro station where he works a day job. Guzman is accused in a federal charging document of smuggling more than 150 pounds of cocaine for the gang.

On Jan. 20, 2025, Dhanda and two others 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, 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.

Sources DOJ, Global News, California Post, FOX11

Categories: bishnoi, Canada, india, southern california