Gangster Bishnoi charged with ordering Nijjar hit in B.C. as U.S. announces arrests

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The department said in a news release on Tuesday that as part of “Operation Hard Ball” law enforcement had seized approximately 1,000 kilograms of cocaine and a dozen firearms.

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Gangster Bishnoi charged with ordering Nijjar hit in B.C. as U.S. announces arrests

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It said the Bishnoi gang funded its activities through drug trafficking, and in November 2024, Bishnoi and Brar oversaw the transportation of 49 kilograms of cocaine that was intercepted in California and was intended to be sent to Canada.

Eleven people were meanwhile charged in relation to an operation that allegedly smuggled hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the U.S. into Canada.

Ravinder Singh Dhanda, of Vancouver, Jaskarn Baghr of Surrey, B.C., and Gurtej Singh Smagh, of Creston, B.C., plus eight other suspects, face eight charges over that alleged operation.

The U.S. Justice Department said 17 members of a third crime group, operated by another imprisoned gangster in India, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, were also charged.

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme told a news conference in Los Angeles that the investigation had “dismantled the leadership of three criminal organizations that inflicted pain and cruelty on people, victims around the globe.”

“Lawrence Bishnoi, Ravinder Dhanda, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, (are) some of the most cruel and wide-reaching criminals whose crimes range from kidnapping to extortion, to murder, to shootings, to arson, to drug trafficking, and many others,” he said.

“These groups are known to prey on the less fortunate to carry out the criminal activities.”

In addition to those arrested or who are already behind bars, police around the world are looking for 10 fugitives, seven in the United States, two in India, and one in Europe.

Patrick Grandy, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said that the 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.”

First assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said that 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 harbour for these thugs,” he added.

In May 2024, four Indian nationals were charged with murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to Nijjar’s killing, which triggered a diplomatic uproar.

The case is now before the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

Nijjar was a supporter of an independent Sikh state known as Khalistan, and his followers have maintained that the Indian government was involved in the death.

In September 2023, then prime minister Justin Trudeau made the stunning announcement in the House of Commons that there was credible intelligence linking India’s government to the killing, and the government last year designated the Bishnoi group as a terrorist entity.

The U.S. Department of Justice said Bishnoi “projected an image of himself as a ‘patriot,’ ‘nationalist,’ and deeply religious individual through social media posts and interviews with news organizations and used this public image to recruit members.”

Bishnoi’s indictment identifies Nijjar by the initials H. S. N, while also describing the exact date of his killing and the known circumstances.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 7, 2026.

The Canadian Press