BURST
B.C. gangster Garinder Deo has been arrested in France and will be extradited to the U.S.
RCMP confirmed Friday that the accused drug smuggler from West Vancouver was taken into custody overseas on July 7 and will be returned to the U.S. to face indictments linked to the FBI’s Operation Hard Ball.
U.S. authorities had been searching for Deo, alleging he played a role in a number of extortions and contract killings linked to the Bhagwanpuria gang. He is also charged in California with aiding the gang “ by purchasing bulk quantities of cocaine and heroin that were to be shipped from Southern California to the eastern United States.
The arrest follows the FBI’s announcement on Tuesday that two dozen people were arrested as part of Operation Hard Ball. The extensive investigation zeroed in on the notorious India-based Bishnoi gang, the Bhagwanpuria group and the Dhanda drug trafficking organization, allegedly headed by Ravinder Dhanda of Surrey.
Earlier in the week, B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture had filed a lawsuit against Deo , seeking to seize three of his properties totalling $11 million: 2030 Westdean Cres. in West Vancouver, and 12645 26A Ave. and 16087 59 Ave., both in Surrey. The suit says the properties should be forfeited as proceeds of criminal activity.
“Deo has been associated with high-level organized crime, organized 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 organizations and terrorist groups,” the lawsuit said.
For more on this story, read Kim Bolan’s coverage:
• B.C. wants millions in assets from accused in massive U.S. drug and extortion case
• U.S. charges against Bishnoi gang welcomed, but more should be done in Canada
• U.S. indicts Bishnoi gang leaders and others in B.C. for trafficking, violence
• Read Kim Bolan’s latest coverage on organized crime and more