Chandigarh: The Punjab police, in a significant breakthrough, have arrested Shehnaz Singh alias Shawn Bhinder, an alleged international drug lord wanted by the United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). A key player in a global narcotics syndicate, Shawn was last month charged in the US for being a part of an armed transnational cocaine and methamphetamine distribution racket.
A team of Tarn Taran police arrested Shawn from Ludhiana Sunday night. A resident of Brampton in Canada, Shawn (33) led a group of at least half a dozen men for allegedly smuggling cocaine from Colombia into the USA and Canada.
The FBI arrested four of his close associates in the US on 26 February this year, but Shawn managed to give the FBI the slip.
“He came to India on 3 March to hide. His native village is Mandiala in Batala, and his wife is in Ludhiana. We were closely following his activities and finally arrested him from Ludhiana,” said Senior Superintendent of Police, Tarn Taran, Abhimanyu Rana, speaking to ThePrint.
Rana, who led the operation leading up to Shawn’s arrest from Ludhiana, Monday told ThePrint that apart from the US case, Shawn was wanted in Punjab in an Arms Act case from December 2024 for connecting notorious jailed gangster Jaggu Bhagwanpuria and Canada-based gangster Amritpal Batth with sharpshooters.
Rana said the five sharpshooters were to carry out targeted killings in Punjab for the two gangsters but were captured before that. “From the five sharpshooters, we recovered a significant cache of arms,” Rana added.
On 26 February this year, the FBI arrested four of Shawn’s associates—Amritpal Singh alias Cheema, Takdir Singh alias Romy, Sarabjit Singh alias Sabi, and Fernando Valladares alias Franco—for allegedly bringing large quantities of drugs from Columbia for distribution in the US and Canada. The FBI earlier arrested two other associates, Amritpal Singh alias Amrit alias Bal and Gurlal Singh.
According to a statement issued by the Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav, following the arrest of the four associates, the US authorities seized 391 kg meth, 109 kg cocaine, and four firearms from their residences and vehicles.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, Ferozepur Range, Swapan Sharma, addressing a press conference Monday, said that preliminary investigations revealed that Shawn was transporting large consignments of drugs across international borders via trucks and trailers under the guise of a legitimate transportation business in Canada.
Rana added Shawn went to Canada in 2014 and used his network of trucks and drivers to allegedly facilitate the movement of drugs from Colombia to the US, as well as to Canada via Mexico. The police probe revealed that Shawn, along with his accomplices, was transporting approximately 600 kg of cocaine from Colombia every week, Rana added.
“Shawn’s father is a Canadian citizen. Shawn studied till college in Batala, after which he went to Canada after marrying a Ludhiana girl with Canadian permanent residency. His mother and he are now permanent residents of Canada,” Rana said. He added that the police suspected that his network had ties with drug traffickers, including Amritpal Singh alias Baath and Gurjant Singh Bholu Havelia.
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What the US case reveals
On 27 February this year, a press release from the US attorney’s office gave details of the charges announced against seven accused in the massive drug haul by the FBI. The note said that Shawn, along with Amrit, Amritpal, Takdir, Romy, Sabi and Gurlal, operated a transnational conspiracy to import cocaine into the US from Colombia and distribute the drug in cities across the US and even into Canada.
The US attorney’s office said that in April 2024, Romy, Sabi, and Francos stole a cache of cocaine from their co-conspirators to distribute it in hotels in New York City, with the group breaking up over the matter. In the melee that followed, the police arrested four conspirators from across states on 26 February this year, but Shawn remained at large.
Acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky said in the press release: “For more than a year, Shehnaz Singh (Shawn) and his associates not only imported dangerous drugs to sell across the United States but also armed themselves with deadly weapons and endangered communities here in New York City and around the country.”
The press statement added that Shawn posed as a corrupt police officer, and Amrit and Cheema served as, among other things, Shawn’s enforcers, helping in safekeeping and distributing cocaine while armed with guns.
Imported from Columbia, the cocaine was delivered to co-conspirators in midwestern America—including to a vacant home used by Amrit and others in Indiana. From there, the gang distributed the cocaine across the US and Canada, including to and through California, Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
This cross-border trade from Colombia to the US and Canada was lucrative. According to the US attorney’s press statement, Amrit described the business: “It costs roughly about two, four, or five thousand dollars per [kilo in Colombia]. When it reaches America, it’s worth twelve to thirteen thousand. When it reaches Canada, it’s thirty thousand.”
In April 2024, Romy and Sabi, initially working with Shawn, stole a large cache of cocaine from Shawn with help from Franco. They planned to distribute the stolen cocaine at two hotels in New York City, among other places. One of the conspirators, however, crashed a truck carrying approximately 10 kg of the stolen cocaine and abandoned his cargo.
Shawn, Amrit and Cheema vowed to “serve vengeance” on those who had stolen the cocaine and headed to New York. “The day before arriving in New York City, Amrit and Cheema took photos of themselves displaying weapons over a large cache of stacked cocaine,” read the US attorney’s statement. Then, the US authorities arrested the duo.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)