India has emerged as a pivotal partner in international efforts to dismantle transnational organised crime networks, with its cooperation now formally acknowledged by agencies in the United States, Canada, and Europe following one of the largest coordinated enforcement actions in recent memory. The country's role is rooted in its 2011 ratification of the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC) and its three protocols, which bound New Delhi to obligations covering human trafficking, migrant smuggling, and illicit arms trafficking.

Operation Hard Ball and What It Uncovered

The US Justice Department's 'Operation Hard Ball', announced on 7 July, has drawn attention across global capitals as a demonstration of what coordinated cross-border enforcement can achieve. The operation yielded 24 arrests across the United States, Canada, and Europe, more than 50 search warrants, three unsealed indictments, and 37 charged defendants drawn from syndicates that, according to reports, recruit and operate across continents. It is described as one of the largest joint actions ever mounted against transnational criminal enterprises.

For New Delhi, the significance of the operation extends well beyond the arrest count. The networks under investigation were reportedly based in India, initially targeted Indian victims, and cannot be fully dismantled without India's active cooperation — placing the country at the centre of the effort rather than on its periphery, according to a report published in the European Times this week.

The Bishnoi and Bhagwanpuria Networks

The indictments, as cited in the European Times report, describe criminal enterprises led by jailed Punjab gangster Lawrence Bishnoi and Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, alongside the Canada-based network of Ravinder Singh Dhanda. Together, these outfits are alleged to run murder-for-hire operations, extortion rackets, weapons trafficking, and bulk narcotics movement across several continents.

The Bhagwanpuria group alone is said to count more than a thousand members and associates worldwide, reportedly directing extortion through encrypted messaging applications and managing operations via contraband phones smuggled into prison facilities, according to the report.

India's Prior Intelligence on These Syndicates

India had confronted these criminal outfits well before they registered as a threat in cities such as Los Angeles and Vancouver, the report noted. The gangs have carried out multiple high-profile targeted killings across India. The Bishnoi organisation and its associate Satinderjeet Singh, known as Goldy Brar, claimed responsibility for the assassination of singer Sidhu Moose Wala in Punjab in May 2022. The same network has been linked to the killing of Maharashtra politician Baba Siddique in Mumbai in October 2024, and to a sustained campaign of threats against prominent public figures.

This history means India brings to any joint enforcement effort a body of knowledge on these syndicates — their personnel, financing, and prison-run command structures — that few partner nations can match, the report stated.

International Coordination Going Forward

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Ottawa formally acknowledged New Delhi's cooperation in the investigation. Prosecutors have indicated that authorities from the United States, Canada, Spain, and India are expected to maintain close coordination as the cases progress through their respective legal systems.

New Delhi's consistent doctrine — treating human trafficking, illegal migration networks, narcotics trafficking, arms smuggling, forged documentation, and narco-terror links as interconnected security threats rather than isolated crimes — now appears to be gaining formal recognition in multilateral enforcement frameworks. How deeply that cooperation deepens will shape the next phase of prosecutions.