On July 7, 2026, the US Department of Justice unveiled Operation Hard Ball, a massive multinational initiative that marks far more than a typical local gang bust. Instead, authorities characterised it as a sweeping global crackdown against powerful, India-based transnational organised crime groups operating across the United States, Canada, and Europe. A total of 37 defendants have been criminally charged across three separate federal indictments, resulting in the immediate arrest of 24 individuals, including 11 in California alone. This operation signals a pivotal historical milestone. It represents the very first time Western law enforcement agencies have formally entered into the legal record of the active presence of India-based gangs. The unsealed indictments officially document how these groups use jail-run command systems to direct operations from thousands of miles away, engage in the violent targeting of diaspora communities, and execute sophisticated cross-border criminal operations. For years, New Delhi has projected itself internationally as a victim of cross-border extremism. Operation Hard Ball forces a different question: what happens when criminal networks operating from Indian soil, and allegedly from Indian prisons, begin exporting violence abroad? Syndicates charged for criminal activities are the Bishnoi Gang, the Bhagwanpuria ring, and the........

© Daily Times