The B.C. government wants to seize two properties of alleged drug-trafficking boss Ravinder Singh Dhanda, who was one of the lead targets of an international crackdown on three India-linked organized crime groups earlier this month.
The Director of Civil Forfeiture is going after Dhanda and his spouse Manjit Kaur Dhanda’s White Rock and Surrey homes, according to a notice of claim in B.C. Supreme Court.
The claim said the defendants “did not have sufficient lawful employment, income and/or legitimate business income to acquire, finance, improve, maintain, or preserve” the properties.
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The director alleged Dhanda and his associates “coordinated the storage, transport, smuggling and distribution of bulk quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine and other controlled substances over international borders, primarily between the United States and Canada, on a weekly basis.”
According to the claim, Dhanda also co-ordinated the smuggling of bulk quantities of controlled substances to various organized crime groups throughout Canada and directed and conspired with others within his drug trafficking organization to assist.
“R. Dhanda directly or indirectly engaged in, facilitated, benefited from, conspired in, or was associated with unlawful activity, including but not limited to trafficking of controlled substances,” said the claim.
It alleged that Ravinder Dhanda’s spouse Manjit Dhanda “knew or ought to have known” how the properties were being used or “was willfully blind” to how they were used.
The claim said the properties are “proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity.”
Dhanda and his spouse became the owners of the Surrey property in 2003, then became the owners of the White Rock property in 2021, according to the claim. Mortgages and liens are registered on both properties, the claim said.
The White Rock property is assessed at almost $3.7 million and the Surrey property is assessed at nearly $2.7 million.
The claim said the properties were used by the defendants “to engage in unlawful activities” that allegedly included laundering the proceeds of unlawful activity, providing or collecting property for terrorist activities and failing to declare taxable income.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and the RCMP’s federal policing Pacific region started a crackdown on “criminal activity, international drug trafficking, extortion, racketeering and violence” in 2023, according to the claim.
Called “Operation Hard Ball,” the investigation led to 37 defendants being charged across three indictments, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
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Three defendants, including Dhanda, were arrested in B.C.
Dhanda remains in custody awaiting a bail hearing scheduled as part of extradition proceedings.
Unsealed indictments detail charges against three separate groups: the Bishnoi Organized Crime Group (OCG); a gang run by imprisoned Indian national, Jaggu Bhagwanpuria; and Dhanda’s alleged drug trafficking operation.
In civil forfeiture proceedings, the director doesn’t need to prove a charge or conviction against the defendants, but must establish that the property is either “the proceeds or an instrument of unlawful activity,” according to the province.
