B.C. seeks forfeiture of alleged gangster’s properties worth more than $6.2 million

From July 9: Three men accused of involvement in the notorious Bishnoi gang made court appearances in B.C. Thursday.

B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture is looking to seize two Metro Vancouver homes owned by one of the local men arrested in a U.S.-led investigation into India-based criminal groups earlier this month.

The petition filed in B.C. Supreme Court last week alleges that Ravinder Singh Dhanda “co-ordinated the storage, smuggling, transportation and distribution of bulk quantities-controlled substances to various organized crime groups throughout Canada,” as well as the smuggling of illicit substances across the U.S.-Canada border.

The two properties—located at 16368 36A Ave. in Surrey and 15621 Cliff Ave. in White Rock—“are proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity,” according to the court filing.

The allegations in the petition have not been proven in court, and Dhanda has not filed a response to the director’s petition.

BC Assessment lists the Surrey property as a four-bedroom, five-bathroom house with more than 4,600 square feet of living space across two storeys and a finished basement. Its assessed value for 2026 is more than $2.6 million.

The White Rock property is even more luxurious, with more than 6,300 square feet of living space, six bedrooms and eight bathrooms, and an assessed value of more than $3.6 million.

Dhanda and his wife Manjit Kaur Dhanda are the registered owners of both properties, having acquired the Surrey home in 2003 and the White Rock home in 2021, according to the civil forfeiture petition.

“Some or all of the funds used to acquire and/or maintain the properties were proceeds of the unlawful activity and/or tax evasion in breach of the Income Tax Act,” the petition alleges, adding that the director believes Manjit Dhanda “knew or ought to have known” about her husband’s alleged conduct, or was “willfully blind” to it.

Dhanda was one of three men arrested in B.C. last week—alongside Jaskarn Baghr of Surrey and Gurtej Singh Smagh, of Creston—as part of the FBI’s “Operation Hard Ball” investigation.

The three are among 11 suspects facing charges linked to an alleged cross-border drug-smuggling operation that investigators say brought hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine from the U.S. into Canada each week.

The RCMP also announced charges against the alleged leaders of the crime networks — Lawrence Bishnoi, Ravinder Dhanda and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria — following what it described as two years of co-ordinated efforts by Canadian and American law enforcement.

Bishnoi, a gangster in prison in India, is charged with ordering the June 2023 assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara.

In total, police announced the arrests of 24 suspects in connection to Operation Hard Ball last week, with 10 other suspects still at large at the time.

One of them—Garinder Singh Deo—was taken into custody in France after the RCMP’s announcement last week.

Like Dhanda, Deo is subject to civil forfeiture proceedings in B.C., with the director seeking possession of three properties he owns, including homes in West Vancouver and Surrey.

• Read more: B.C. man arrested in France as part of investigation into India-based crime groups

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Becca Clarkson and The Associated Press