• Source:JND
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In a major international crackdown, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has arrested notorious Indo-Canadian gangster Opinder Singh Sian, also known by his aliases Thanos, Opie, and Cain. Sian is accused of masterminding a sprawling global drug trafficking network with operational links to Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), China’s chemical suppliers, Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah group. Sian, the leader of the Brothers Keepers gang in British Columbia, was arrested on June 27 in Arizona, newly unsealed US court documents reveal.

Global Fentanyl And Meth Smuggling Ring Smashed

The DEA operation, which commenced in 2022 following a tip from Turkish intelligence, uncovered how Sian's cartel smuggled record amounts of fentanyl precursors and methamphetamine across Canada into the United States and Australia. Undercover officers spelled out in a 29-page affidavit how Sian orchestrated chemical shipments from China to Vancouver, and then on to Los Angeles, via a trucking business operated by a Chinese cartel member, Peter Peng Zhou. The cartel exploited Canada's liberal political and legal climate to aid synthetic opioid trafficking. Sian was purportedly an essential go-between between ISI handlers and Chinese sellers, using British Columbia gangs as logistics centers. Indian security officials have identified a minimum of 40 Indo-Canadians suspected of aiding the network's radical operations in Punjab, Delhi, and Kashmir.

The probe also found that Sian's Brothers Keepers gang was connected with the infamous Kinahan crime cartel in Dubai, which has affiliations with the Hezbollah terror network. The gang is involved in arms smuggling, extortion, homicide, and Khalistani extremist activities such as events celebrating Air India bombing plot mastermind Talwinder Singh Parmar.

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Undercover Sting At Vancouver Port

The DEA undercover operation at Vancouver Port corroborated that ISI-supported agents were facilitating Chinese sellers to ship fentanyl to Latin American cartels. Sian coordinated a minimum of four large meth shipments — worth more than 500 pounds — into the southern part of California prior to his arrest. According to court documents, Sian arranged various meetings through encrypted messaging apps like Threema to organize shipments with undercover US sources.

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Sian boasts an extensive criminal past in Canada's gangland. He defied two attempts on his life, in 2008 when his associate Gurpreet Sidhu died, and in 2011, which sealed his status as a notorious figure in Vancouver's underworld. Opinder Singh Sian is scheduled to face a US court on July 21 on conspiring to export methamphetamine charges. The US DEA thinks the network of the cartel extended to Canada, the US, Mexico, Australia, Turkey, Dubai and Hong Kong. The Indian authorities have received the bust with open arms, terming it a significant setback for ISI-sponsored trafficking and Khalistani extremist financing.