O. “Opie” Singh is alleged to have been involved in a large-scale drug trafficking operation involving approximately 520 pounds of Fentanyl. Singh is alleged to be a member of a criminal gang and has ties to international hitmen. According to the reports, Singh has no residence in the United States; however, he has significant ties to nations outside the United States. It is alleged that Singh and his co-conspirators arranged four drop-offs of methamphetamine to the confidential source in Southern California for shipment to Australia

The defendant, Opie Singh, has waived his right to a detention hearing in the District of Nevada so that he may have a full detention hearing in the Central District of California. The Court finds that Singh is a Canadian national without legal status in this country. According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Singh was paroled into the United States for prosecution, and an ICE detainer has been lodged against him. The Court is unaware of the Singh’s full criminal history because Canada has not provided it. 

Accordingly, it is ordered that the defendant, Singh, be detained pending transfer and further proceedings in the Central District of California, so that he may have a full detention hearing upon arrival in the prosecuting district.

On or around June 2022, DEA’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Group 48 received a lead from DEA’s Ankara, Turkey, Country Office about an opportunity to insert a confidential source playing the role of an international transportation coordinator into an international drug trafficking organization that needed help transporting drugs from Southern California to Australia and other destinations.

Singh and the confidential source subsequently held several in-person meetings. They communicated via phone calls and the Threema messaging application to coordinate multiple deliveries of methamphetamine from co-conspirators to a confidential source in Southern California for shipment to Australia. Singh and his co-conspirators arranged four drop-offs of methamphetamine to a confidential source in Southern California for shipment to Australia.

Singh explained that in Canada, he works with Irish organized crime, Italian organized crime, and other Canadian organized crime groups. Singh also explained that he obtained drugs through contacts with drug cartels in Mexico and South America. Singh again stated that he worked with a known drug kingpin, based out of Turkey.

While the confidential source and Singh were in Vancouver, Singh introduced the source to two male associates. They explained that they had about 500 kilograms of cocaine and needed help getting it through Los Angeles ports and then on to Australia. After the in-person meeting, Singh and others continued to reach out to a confidential source about moving controlled substances for them from South America and Mexico to or through Southern California to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Later, Singh traveled to Los Angeles and met with the confidential source. The source also brought a DEA undercover agent who posed as his/her cousin who worked at the Port of Long Beach and who helped him/her ship narcotics undetected.

While going over the elaborate plan, Singh connected the source to another Indian-Canadian, J. Kular, as part of a plan to traffic 200 pounds of methamphetamine from Los Angeles to Australia. Kular is a Vancouver, Canada-based associate of Singh. Additionally, it is alleged that Kular asked the source to send the type of precursor chemicals he/she would be interested in, so he could check on pricing. Around the same time, Singh informed the source that he could get the chemicals directly from China.

In October 2023, the illegal transcontinental operation came to an end when the Australian undercover officer gave the sham drugs to people in Australia, who loaded the sham drugs into a van. At that time, Australian law enforcement officers searched the house and then arrested multiple individuals involved.

An Assistant Federal Public Defender from Las Vegas will serve as counsel for Opie Singh, who is currently incarcerated at a municipal detention facility in Los Angeles.

Above information is merely an allegation, and all defendants mentioned above are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.