VANCOUVER — A West Vancouver man named in an American indictment as part of a multipronged investigation into international organized crime has been arrested in France.

RCMP say Garinder Deo was picked up on July 7, a day after authorities in Los Angeles announced they had disrupted three crime syndicates connected to India that were responsible for drug smuggling, extortions and the assassination of B.C. Sikh leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar.

Police say in a statement that Deo is in custody in France and awaits extradition to the United States on indictments related to the FBI’s operation.

The indictment alleges Deo purchased cocaine and heroin to be shipped from California to Canada and the eastern United States for a crime group.

Three other B.C. men were already arrested in relation to a different crime group and are going through the extradition process in B.C. Supreme Court.

The U.S. Justice Department announced this week that Lawrence Bishnoi, a gangster imprisoned in India, and his alleged lieutenant had also been swept up in the investigation, and were charged with ordering Nijjar’s assassination in June 2023 outside a Surrey, B.C., gurdwara.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 10, 2027.