Praser Valley based members of a Sikh separatist fraction are trafficking in heroin to support military Operations against India, authorities allege. Officials in India, Canada and the U.S. believe the full scope of the heroin trade by the fraction has not come to light despite the arrests of two B, C. members of the group in New Delhi and New York. Robin @ugh of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in New York confirmed agents burst into a Manhattan/hote] room and arrested Iqbal Singh Gill of Abbotsford on Aug. 19. “Authorities found two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of heroin, Waugh said. Gill, a key player in the breakaway Brar fraction of the International Sikh Youth Federation, is charged with possession of heroin and conspiracy with intent to distribute heroin.
The DEA’s questioning of Gill resulted in the arrest of his longtime business associate, Manjinder Singh Suni, this month at New Delhi’s airport. About seven kilograms of heroin was seized. Sun recently bought a new house in Surrey. The main IS YF group, run ‘by Satinderpal Gill of Surrey, condemned the use of drugs to finance a holy war. One Sikh elder said “these people are tarnishing the image of the Sikh peopled by dealing in narcotics”. The Brar faction owes its allegiance to Lakhbir Singh Brar, a nephew of slain Sikh leader Jamail Singh Bhindranwale. Brar arrived in Canada in the early “80s and was questioned by Surrey RCMP after a powerful bomb was left outside a printing press owned by Surrey Punjabi language newspaper editor Tara Singh Hayer. Brar was never charged but Canada declared him a security threat and began deportation proceedings. After a lengthy battle, he moved to Lahore, Pakistan, where Sikh militants have a major base. Sources say Brar’s faction has several members in Abbotsford and Surrey but the major support base is in England.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 2, 1996
