FBI Puts Indian National Kamal On Most Wanted List
India-West News Desk
WASHINGTON, DC – The FBI has added an Indian national identified only as Kamal to its Most Wanted list as US authorities step up a crackdown on transnational organized crime groups with links to India.
The FBI alleges that Kamal was involved with the Lawrence Bishnoi Organised Crime Group and is wanted on a charge of conspiring to interfere with commerce through extortion. A federal arrest warrant was issued for him July 1 by the US District Court for the Central District of California in Los Angeles.
The agency describes the Lawrence Bishnoi group as a transnational criminal organization that originated in Punjab, India, and operated in California and elsewhere.
Kamal is the latest Indian national to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as part of Operation Hard Ball, a crackdown targeting groups associated with Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Ravinder Dhanda.
The FBI has also listed Indian nationals Major Singh and Nitish Kaushal over their alleged involvement with the Jaggu Bhagwanpuria Organised Crime Group.
According to the agency, the Bhagwanpuria group originated in Punjab and operated in California and elsewhere. The FBI has alleged that its activities included murder, kidnapping, drug trafficking, extortion, weapons trafficking, money laundering and human smuggling.
The crackdown has also focused on the Ravinder Dhanda Organised Crime Group, which the FBI describes as a transnational network based in Vancouver, Canada.
Indian national Amritpal Singh was added to the FBI’s Most Wanted list July 30 over his alleged involvement with the Dhanda group. The agency said the group trafficked substantial quantities of cocaine and methamphetamine for drug trafficking organizations operating in the US, Canada and Mexico.
Another Indian national, Harmanveer Singh, was arrested in Stockton, California, July 23 over his involvement in drug trafficking operations linked to the Dhanda group, the FBI said.
The US Department of Justice has charged 37 people in connection with Operation Hard Ball. Earlier this month, authorities arrested 24 people linked to the three transnational organized crime groups, including 11 in California.
