THE RCMP Federal Policing Pacific Region on Friday announced that Garinder Singh Deo, 40, of West Vancouver was arrested and taken into custody in France where he is awaiting extradition to the United States on indictments related to the FBI’s Operation Hard Ball.
He was taken into custody on July 7.
According to Tuesday’s news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Central District of California, Garinder Deo, 40, a.k.a. “Doctor, “Rocket,” and “Ritz Carlton,” of Vancouver, Canada, though not charged as a member or associate of the criminal group Bhagwanpuria, 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. This included the attempted shipment in June 2025 of 99.2 kilograms (218.7 pounds) of cocaine and one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin that law enforcement ultimately intercepted.
Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, of Punjab, India, a gangster imprisoned in India, is an associate-turned-rival of Bishnoi, and founded his own criminal enterprise in India’s Punjab state.
The Bhagwanpuria gang operates as a transnational criminal syndicate headquartered in India with members across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. This group includes more than 1,000 members and associates worldwide, and more than 100 members and associates in the United States.
To expand its power, this group corrupted law enforcement officers in India and partnered with corrupt government officials, including to assist in extortion schemes. It also provided false information to law enforcement officers in India regarding alleged crimes. The Bhagwanpuria group used this false information to target perceived rivals and individuals that members or associates believed were cooperating with law enforcement, often triggering baseless criminal proceedings and extortion plots by corrupt Indian law enforcement officers against perceived rivals.
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