India Assisted US-Led Probe Into Global Crime Networks: Canada
WASHINGTON, DC-Indian authorities cooperated with the United States and other international law enforcement agencies in a multinational investigation that led to sweeping racketeering charges against three organized crime groups, a senior Canadian police official has said.
The acknowledgement came after US authorities announced charges against 37 defendants linked to transnational criminal organizations accused of murder, extortion, kidnappings and large-scale drug trafficking across North America and Europe. Twenty-four suspects have been arrested in the United States, Canada and Europe as part of ‘Operation Hard Ball’.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland said Indian authorities assisted investigators during the years-long probe.
“What I can say to you is in this investigation, as you noted from our US partners, that the Indian government was cooperating in this investigation. We work shoulder and shoulder with the FBI and other agencies to address this,” Moreland said in an interview following the announcement.
The comments came as investigators from the United States, Canada and Europe unveiled indictments against three alleged criminal syndicates led by Lawrence Bishnoi, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Ravinder Singh Dhanda.
Prosecutors allege the organizations operated across multiple countries and were involved in targeted killings, extortion, kidnappings, narcotics trafficking and firearms offences.
US prosecutors alleged that Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria directed criminal enterprises from jail cells in India using contraband communication devices, while members and associates allegedly carried out operations in the United States, Canada, Europe and elsewhere.
Moreland said organized crime had become “borderless” because of technology, making cooperation among international agencies essential.
“And I think the key message here is that no matter where you rest in the world, we will come after you with the tools that we have developed to tackle organized crime,” Moreland said.
The investigation involved the FBI, the RCMP, the Los Angeles Police Department, US Customs and Border Protection, and law enforcement agencies in Spain and several other countries.
The US Justice Department said assistance also came from the FBI’s Legal Attache offices in New Delhi, Ottawa, Madrid and Mexico City, among others. (IANS)
