Fresno arrest tied to FBI investigation targeting transnational gangs

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Multiple people have been charged and arrested as part of an operation targeting a violent transnational organized crime ring, according to federal authorities.

At least one of those arrests happened here in Fresno.

"These violent acts include political and religious assassinations, shootings, murders, kidnappings, extortions, assaults, weapons and drug trafficking," said Patrick Grandy, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, at a press conference held by multiple agencies in L.A.

Three indictments were unsealed against the India-based Bishnoi, Bhagwanpuria and Dhanda transnational criminal organizations on Tuesday morning.

Those documents show nearly half of the defendants are alleged members of the group led by Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, who founded his own criminal enterprise in India's Punjab state.

Among other crimes, authorities say the gang would use commercial semi-trucks to traffic hundreds of pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine each week across the U.S. and into Canada.

"The gang's leader, defendant Bhagwanpuria, personally directed the transportation and distribution of large loads of cocaine within California from his jail in India," said Bill Essayli, First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, during Tuesday's press conference.

Two years ago, Bhagwanpuria's criminal dealings led several of his associates to Fresno.

On July 10, 2024, the indictment claims a co-conspirator lured someone whom they believed had stolen a drug load from alleged gang member Amritpal Singh Bal.

Bal and three other defendants named in the 44-page indictment allegedly restrained that individual at a home in Manteca.

It states that two of them assaulted the victim before three of the defendants drove to an apartment in Fresno.

There, Bal and others demanded that the victim pay $50,000 for a drug load that Bal claimed had been stolen.

But Bhagwanpuria directed that the victim be released to resolve an internal dispute within the criminal organization.

That victim, one of many, is just a drop in the bucket among the gang's alleged crimes.

"Fifteen of the defendants in the United States are in the United States here illegally. One of the defendants, Gurdev Singh, even attempted to extort victims while he was in ICE custody," said Essayli.

The indictment accuses Gurdev Singh of murdering a family member of the victim released in Fresno.

A screenshot included in the indictment of an Instagram post appears to show Singh, under his alias of Jashal Chambal, claiming partial responsibility for that murder.

The First Assistant U.S. Attorney says he expects Bhagwanpuria to be extradited to the U.S. within the next few weeks.

Kerry Mannix is a general assignment reporter for ABC30 Action News. For news updates, follow her on Instagram.