Face of drug lord nicknamed ‘Thanos' arrested in Kinahan smuggling network sting

Sunday World

4 days ago

Opinder Singh Sian is currently in custody in Nevada after being charged in connection with a cystal meth smuggling plot
This is the Canadian gangster arrested in the US as part of a global sting operation targeting a drugs trafficking network with links to the Kinahan Cartel.
Opinder Singh Sian is currently in custody in Nevada after being charged in connection with a plot to ship a massive quantity of methamphetamine into Australia,
Sian was unaware that he had been dealing with an undercover agent from the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), who had posed as criminal with contacts in a port in California, while arranging the drugs deal.
According to evidence from the DEA, Sian told the undercover agent that he worked with 'Irish organized crime, specifically, the Kinahan family, Italian organized crime, and other Canadian organized crime groups.'
The Sunday World can reveal that Sian has a long history of ties to organised crime groups based in Canada and Mexico.
Known by the nickname Thanos - a notorious villain in the the Marvel's Avengers series – Sian was believed to be a key associate of the Brothers Keepers gang in Canada.
Based in British Columbia, a province on Canada's west coast. the Brothers Keepers are believed to be one of the country's most "prominent and violent" organized crime gangs.
According to reports, the Brothers Keepers gang acts as a major 'Canadian proxy' to the notorious Sinaloa cartel in Mexico.
The mob are heavily involved in drugs trafficking and have links to the Hells Angels and Wolfpack biker gangs.
File image, Getty Images.
Reports say Sian was never a 'signed-up' member of the Brothers Keepers and is suspected as acting as broker for the gang.
According to the Vancouver Sun, Sian was regularly stopped in cars with with other gangsters by Canadian police and has criminal convictions for careless use of a firearm and obstruction of a peace officer date to 2007.
The Canadian newspaper details how Sian was also refused permission in 2015 to bring in a woman in from India to get married after the immigration appeal board ruled it was a sham marriage.
Officials claimed Sian's proposed bride did not know he had a criminal record or had previously survived an attempted gangland hit.
'This background is particularly relevant to this appeal because the applicant was not aware of the appellant's criminal history, nor the shooting, nor his work experience at the time of marriage. The panel finds that this is very important information that would be expected to be shared by two persons entering into a genuine relationship,' the immigration board ruled, according to reports in the Vancouver Sun.
Read more Episode 1098: Kinahan Cartel smuggling network exposed in undercover sting operation
In 2008, Sian was wounded in a shooting in that left his friend Gurpreet Sidhu dead and he survived another bid on his life in 2011.
British Columbia has recently been the focus of a number of high profile investigations into the drugs trade – including an international operations targeting the network of ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
'Vancouver is the centre of gravity for hybrid warfare for transnational organized crime in North America,' Scott McGregor, a former military intelligence operator, told Global News following Sian's arrest.
'One of my colleagues in D.C. mentioned that it was a cross between Dubai and Miami.'
Last month, Sian was arrested in Nevada following a three year operation into his smuggling network by the DEA.
The operation began when the DEA recruited an informant – known only by the code name 'Queen' – in Turkey in June 2022.
Queen then forged ties with Sian, who was suspected of moving shipments of drugs through ports across the world.
As part of an elaborate sting, Queen introduced Sian to an undercover DEA agent who offered to facilitate large drug shipments through the Port of Long Beach in the US.
The DEA claim Queen, Sian and the undercover agent met face-to-face at a restaurant in Manhattan Beach, California, in March 2023.
During that meeting, they struck a deal to traffic methamphetamine to Australia.
Daniel Kinahan
However instead of smuggling the drugs, the DEA put in place an elaborate sting operation where agents created a staged shipment of methamphetamine through a safehouse­ in Pomona, California.
The DEA intercepted the original drugs shipment arranged by Sian and substituted them with a decoy batch which was then sent onto Australia.
Using a GPS-tracked, Australian police were able to follow the container when it arrived to a suspected stash house in Sydney.
DEA agents were able to identify multiple aliases used by figures involved in the network which used encrypted apps to communicate and stretched from Dubai to Istanbul.
Sian's arrest has also been big news in India where he is accused of having links to shadowy Pakistani security services agents involved with rogue Chinese drug suppliers.
India's News18 reported that Sian was a "critical intermediary" between Pakistani agents and Chinese suppliers, who exploit Canada's "permissive legal and political environment" to traffic synthetic opioids.
The channel claimed Indian agencies have identified 40 Indo-Canadians who support this network's operations in Punjab, Delhi and Kashmir.
According to the report, Indian intelligence sources have flagged the Kinahan cartel as playing a "role in laundering Canadian drug proceeds.'
Last month, a Nevada judge ordered Sian held in custody pending his transfer to California saying that his criminal gang 'is alleged to have ties to international hitmen.'
None of the other people named in the affidavit by US officials are facing charges at this time.