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

A person walks past signs of Hardeep Singh Nijjar at the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara in Surrey, B.C. on Friday, May 3, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

LOS ANGELES — The U.S. Justice Department says 24 suspects around the world, three of them in Canada, have been arrested in connection with offences by India-based organized crime groups, including the murder of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in British Columbia.

Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster who is in prison in India, and his alleged lieutenant Satinderjeet Singh, also known as Goldy Brar, are charged with ordering Nijjar’s June 2023 assassination outside a Surrey, B.C., gurdwara.

The indictment against a total of 37 suspects says such high-profile crimes were used to terrorize Indian community members.

It says that in November 2023 Bishnoi claimed responsibility for a separate shooting that occurred at the Vancouver home of a prominent Indian actor and singer, warning in Punjabi in a Facebook post that “no one can save you from us.”

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

It says 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.