Ina major operation, Canadian Law Enforcement (CLE) has busted an Indo-Canadiandrug racket with links to the US and India with the arrest of over 30 persons.
Tenkg of cocaine, 8 kg of ketamine, 3 kg of heroin, 2.5 kg of opium, 48 firearmsand $730,000 in Canadian currency have been seized under the 'OperationCheetah'.
Thearrests and drug seizure come after the year-long 'Operation Cheetah'culminated in raids last week, which were carried out by the Royal CanadianMounted Police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and regional policeforces in Ontario, British Columbia and California, resulting in the arrest of33 people.
Twenty-fiveof those arrested are Punjabi men from the Indian-dominated city of Brampton onthe outskirts of Toronto.
Theyhave been identified as Parshotem Malhi, 54, Rupinder Dhillion, 37, SanveerSingh, 25, Haripal Nagra, 45, Pritpal Singh, 56, Harkiran Singh, 33, LakhpreetBrar, 29, Balwinder Dhaliwal, 60, Sukhmanpreet Singh, 23, Khushal Bhinder, 36,Prabhjeet Mundian, 34, Vansh Arora, 24, Simranjeet Narang, 28, Gaganpreet Gill,28, Sukjit Dhaliwal, 47, Harjot Singh, 31, and Sukhjit Dhugga, 35.
GurbinderSooch, 41, with no fixed address, has also been arrested.
Thesemen smuggled cocaine, ketamine, heroin and opium into Canada and distributedthem through their underground network.
Theyface various criminal offences, including conspiracies to import bannedsubstances, drug smuggling, and possession of property obtained by crime.
Cocaineand other drugs smuggled into Canada come from California and are brought in bythe truckers. A few months back, a Punjabi trucker named Amanpreet Sandhu fromCalgary was arrested while smuggling drugs worth over $28 million - a record inCanada.