As three accused drug smugglers appear in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday after a major U.S. investigation targeting the Bishnoi gang, two former police officers are asking why no one has been charged in Canada.
U.S. Indictments Target Transnational Crime Networks
The three so-called members of the Dhanda drug trafficking organization — Ravinder Dhanda, Gurtej Smagh and Jaskarn Baghri — were charged in one of three indictments stemming from Operation Hard Ball, headed by the FBI’s Los Angeles office. Among 37 people charged are gang leader Lawrence Bishnoi, who is imprisoned in India, and his fugitive lieutenant Goldy Brar, who the U.S. alleges ordered the Surrey murder of Sikh separatist leader Hardip Singh Nijjar in June 2023.
The U.S. said the Bishnoi transnational criminal network, and a second gang headed by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who is also in jail in India, had hundreds of operatives in Canada and the U.S. involved in murder-for-hire, extortion and drug trafficking. Longtime B.C. gang associate Garinder Deo was charged in California with aiding the Bhagwanpuria group, while the Dhanda group members are only facing drug smuggling charges. Deo’s West Vancouver home was one of three Lower Mainland properties searched by police on Tuesday, but he has not yet been arrested.
Former Police Officers Question Canada’s Inaction
While the RCMP aided U.S. law enforcement agencies with the massive investigation, two former police officers-turned-politicians said Wednesday that it’s troubling no charges have been laid in Canada. Independent MLA Elenore Sturko, a former Surrey Mountie, said the fact the RCMP didn’t lead the investigation “is an embarrassment for Canada.”
“I still wonder if our criminal justice system, with respect to our laws, are sufficient for us to bring the same type of prosecutions that the United States seems to be able to manage when it comes to the protection of our own citizens,” Sturko said.
Richmond councillor and former B.C. solicitor general Kash Heed, also a former police officer, said clearly Canada needs both legislative changes and a more robust policing model to tackle transnational organized crime.
“We’ve got significant transnational organized crime issues, whether it’s related to drug trafficking, money laundering, hired killers, or whatever, right here in Canada, and we do not have the tools, let alone the resources to go after them,” Heed said. “These charges are all based on U.S. indictments even when the crimes were committed on Canadian soil.”
Impact on B.C.’s Extortion Crisis Uncertain
Both Sturko and Heed said while they welcomed the charges, they don’t know if there will be an impact on the extortion crisis in B.C. Heed said while the U.S. targeting leaders of extortion gangs, many of the recent cases in B.C. appear to involve lower-level “local thugs.”
