Federal agents crushed the California arm of a vicious transnational organized crime syndicate in series of stunning raids Tuesday that saw the arrest of at least a dozen accused criminals in the Golden State — and dozens more elsewhere.
Los Angeles federal agents led the stunning global takedown of the India-based Bishnoi Gang, a fearsome global mob blamed for extortion, drug dealing and the assassination of political figures, industrialists, actors and musicians in North America and India.
As of 7 a.m., agents had 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 seized more than 2,200 pounds of cocaine and heroin, 40,000 cash and a dozen firearms.
At least five defendants were arrested in the Bay Area and at least seven were arrested in LA.
“The defendants charged in today’s indictment are alleged to have engaged in some of the most violent and barbaric activities we’ve seen,” said top LA prosecutor Bill Esayli.
“There will be zero tolerance for violent gangs in our communities, especially those from foreign nations who are not legally present in our country,” he added.
The Bishnoi 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.
“Operation Hard Ball” is the result of a years-long federal investigation into three Indian crime syndicates led by the Bishnoi that engage in racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion, large-scale drug trafficking and other crimes.
The mysterious and murderous gang is led by 33-year-old Lawrence Bishnoi, Punjab, India, a gangster long imprisoned in India, who runs the operation from his jail cell.
Bishnoi is affiliated an eco-religious sect 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.
He delegates control of his gang to trusted lieutenants and regional leaders of the criminal enterprise to conduct “targeted killings, shootings, kidnappings, maimings, assaults, extortions, and drug trafficking,” court papers charge.
Among the crimes alleged in the Bishnoi indictment is the assassination of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a prominent political and religious leader from India who was living in Canada at the time of his killing in 2023.
The criminal boss is accused of ordering two gunmen to shoot and Nijjar, 45, as he left a Sikh temple in British Columbia.
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.
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 of this year 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, 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 from rival drug trafficking gangs in LA, court papers state.
The indictment charges Bishnoi and eight other defendants with racketeering, extortion and dealing cocaine and methamphetamine.
The feds on Tuesday also targeted members of the Bhagwanpuria gang 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 and associates worldwide, and more than 100 members and associates in the US. Prosecutors say the gang engaged in murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, kidnappings, extortions, and weapons trafficking.
Members of the Bhagwanpuria gang in Stockton, California and elsewhere extorted victims and reaped cash through drug trafficking LA and the Inland Empire, as well as through illegal firearms dealing, court papers charge.
The federal indictment 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.
The FBI, LAPD and Royal Canadian Mounted Police conducted the arrests Tuesday associated with the case.
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