Enforcement action related to Operation Hard Ball has continued with a Canada-based gangster of Indian origin taken into custody in France.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) confirmed on Friday that 40-year-old Garinder Deo was arrested on July 7 after the United States Department of Justice announced the outcome of the operation which led to charges being filed against 37 individuals, including Lawrence Bishnoi and his former lieutenant in North America, Satinderjeet Singh alias Goldy Brar.
Deo was named in the indictment against the Bhagwanpuria gang and is the fourth Canadian to be arrested under the sprawling investigation which spanned the United States, Canada and Europe.
Also known as Doctor, Rocket, and Ritz Carlton, the Vancouver resident, though not charged as a member or associate of the criminal group, “allegedly helped enrich the group by purchasing bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin that were to be shipped from Southern California to the eastern United States with the assistance of members and associates of the Bhagwanpuria enterprise,” the indictment read.
This included the attempted shipment in June 2025 of 99.2kg of cocaine and 1kg of heroin that law enforcement ultimately intercepted, DoJ had said.
Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, after whom the gang is named, is imprisoned in India, is an associate-turned-rival of Bishnoi, and founded his own criminal enterprise in Punjab.
Last week, British Columbia’s director of civil forfeiture filed a lawsuit against Deo with the intent of seizure of three of his properties in the Greater Vancouver area, estimated to be worth CA$ 11 million, according to the Vancouver Sun.
“Deo has been associated with high-level organised crime, organised criminal gangs in the Greater Vancouver area, as well as international criminal syndicates, drug trafficking, importation or exportation, money laundering, trafficking in firearms and violence and enriching international criminal organisations and terrorist groups,” the claim noted.
The US DoJ has also indicted multiple individuals associated with the Canada-based Dhanda gang, and that resulted in the three prior arrests in the country. RCMP arrested its leader, 57-year-old Ravinder Singh Dhanda of Vancouver, and Jaskarn Baghri, 50, of Surrey, and Gurtej Singh Smagh, 43, of Creston. The indictment alleged Smagh had access to an informant within the Canada Border Services Agency, which authorities are investigating.
Eight other individuals linked to the network have also been charged.
According to the indictment, the gang transported, smuggled and distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine every week from the United States into Canada.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme said, in a statement issued after the Los Angeles press conference, that the accused were arrested on provisional arrest warrants and authorities would seek their extradition to the US. He added that search warrants were executed at properties in West Vancouver, White Rock and Surrey as part of the investigation.
