An international operation targeting India-based organised crime groups has led to 24 arrests, US officials said Tuesday, including alleged links to the 2023 killing in Canada of a prominent Sikh activist.

The sting involved law enforcement working across the United States, Canada and Europe as investigators pursued crime syndicates accused of racketeering, targeted killings, shootings, extortion and drug trafficking.

Officials said dozens of people were charged after indictments were unsealed, including two accused of running global criminal operations while imprisoned in India. They said all but 10 of those charged were in custody.

Among the charges is the 2023 killing of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, described by prosecutors as a Punjabi-born campaigner connected to the Khalistan separatist movement. US officials alleged that Lawrence Bishnoi, 33, ordered the killing from prison in India. They said Bishnoi’s organisation is designated as a terrorist enterprise in Canada.

Prosecutors alleged Bishnoi recruited associates using a public-facing image as a devout “patriot,” while privately directing a wide-ranging criminal enterprise spanning multiple continents. Authorities said it involved political assassinations, murders, shootings, extortion, kidnappings, drug trafficking, and human smuggling.

Also charged is Jaggu Bhagwanpuria, 38, described as a gangster imprisoned in India and an associate-turned-rival of Bishnoi. Officials said Bhagwanpuria founded a separate criminal gang with more than 1,000 members across the United States, Canada, the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and was charged with running operations that included murder-for-hire, drug trafficking, kidnappings, extortion and weapons trafficking.

Canadian authorities also tied one set of charges to drug smuggling, including Ravinder Singh Dhanda, 57, of Vancouver, alleged to be part of a network importing hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine each week from the US into Canada.