LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Local and federal law enforcement officials in Los Angeles Tuesday announced the arrest of two-dozen defendants — 11 of them in California — connected to three India-based transnational organized crime rings charged with a range of criminal acts, including the assassination in Canada in 2023 of a prominent Indian political and religious figure.
The crackdown, dubbed Operation Hard Ball, is the result of a years- long federal investigation into Indian crime syndicates that engage in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, the trafficking of bulk quantities of narcotics across international borders, and other crimes around the world whose impact is especially felt in the Indian diaspora, officials said.
In total, 37 defendants — including two who allegedly ran their global criminal syndicates while imprisoned in India — are charged across three indictments unsealed Tuesday in L.A. federal court.
As part of the investigation, law enforcement seized over 2,000 pounds of cocaine and more than one pound of heroin along with cash and firearms. A total of 11 search warrants have been executed in the Los Angeles area.
“Transnational criminal gangs who spread fear, drugs and violence will face the full force of justice and the weight of the federal government,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in a statement. “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.”
Prosecutors said defendants include Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, of Punjab, India, a gangster long imprisoned in India, who allegedly ran a criminal enterprise that spanned multiple continents. Using contraband cell phones, Bishnoi directed political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortions, kidnappings, drug trafficking, human smuggling and other crimes committed by members and associates of the Bishnoi enterprise worldwide, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The Canadian government in September 2025 designated the Bishnoi enterprise as a terrorist entity.
Bishnoi and his accomplices allegedly extorted victims via WhatsApp and other encrypted messaging applications by threatening violence against the victims or the victims’ families. For example, Bishnoi and others attempted to extort victims in Los Angeles and Thousand Oaks, demanding in December 2025 and January 2026 that a $5 million payment be made, prosecutors contend.
A seven-count federal grand jury indictment also charges Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, of Punjab, India, a gangster who is also imprisoned in India. Among other crimes, Bhagwanpuria is accused of funding activities through drug trafficking, including through drug transportation sub-networks in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, as well as through illegal firearms dealing, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
A third indictment filed in downtown Los Angeles charges Ravinder Singh Dhanda, 57, of Vancouver, Canada, and co-defendants with having smuggled and distributed hundreds of pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the U.S. into Canada.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that the cocaine and methamphetamine were concealed and transported on long-haul semi-trucks from the greater Los Angeles area — including West Covina, Ontario, Fontana and Perris — to the U.S.-Canada border.
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