25 Punjabis held in Canada drug racket

April 21, 2021 - PatialaPolitics

TORONTO: An Indo-Canadian drug racket with links to the US and India has been busted with the arrest of over 30 persons.
Ten kg of cocaine, 8 kg of ketamine, 3 kg of heroin, 2.5 kg of opium, 48 firearms and $730, 000 in Canadian currency have been seized under the ‘Operation Cheetah’.

The arrests and drug seizure come after the year-long ‘Operation Cheetah’ culminated in raids last week, which were carried out by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and regional police forces in Ontario, British Columbia and California, resulting in the arrest of 33 people.

Twenty-five of those arrested are Punjabi men from the Indian-dominated city of Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto.

These men smuggled cocaine, ketamine, heroin and opium into Canada and distributed them through their underground network.

Involved in the drug racket

  • Rupinder Sharma (25), Vaughan
  • Prabhsimran Kaur (25), Vaughan
  • Parshotem Malhi (54), Brampton
  • Rupinder Dhillon (37), Brampton
  • Sanveer Singh (25), Brampton
  • Haripal Nagra (45), Brampton
  • Hassam Syed (30), Brampton
  • Pritpal Singh (56), Brampton
  • Harkiran Singh (33), Brampton
  • Lakhpreet Brar (29), Brampton
  • Didy Adansi (52), Toronto
  • Sarbjit Singh (43), Woodstock
  • Balwinder Dhaliwal (60), Brampton
  • Rupinder Dhaliwal (39), Toronto
  • Ranjit Singh (40), Toronto
  • Sukhmanpreet Singh (23), Brampton
  • Khushal Bhinder (36), Brampton
  • Prabhjeet Mundian (34), Brampton
  • Vansh Aurora (24), Brampton
  • Simranjeet Narang (28), Brampton
  • Harjinder Jhaj (28), Caledon
  • Gaganpreet Gill (28), Brampton
  • Sukhjit Dhaliwal (47), Brampton
  • Imran Khan (33), Toronto
  • Chinedu Ajoku (51), Brampton
  • Harjot Singh (31), Brampton
  • Sukhjit Dhugga (35), Brampton

They face various criminal offences, including conspiracies to import banned substances, drug smuggling, and possession of property obtained by crime.

Cocaine and other drugs smuggled into Canada come from California and are brought in by the truckers. A few months back, a Punjabi trucker named Amanpreet Sandhu from Calgary was arrested while smuggling drugs worth over $28 million – a record in Canada.