The DEA operation began in Ankara, Turkey, where agents recruited a confidential informant known by the codename ‘Queen.’ They infiltrated the cartel’s upper echelons and gained the trust of Opinder Singh Sian, a Canadian connected to the Kinahans, the Italian mafia, Turkish traffickers, and the Brothers Keepers. Also known by aliases “Cain,” “Thanos” and “Opie”, Sian was arrested for conspiring with Turkish trafficker Ibrahim Özçelik. Özçelik introduced ‘Queen’ to Sian, who orchestrated methamphetamine shipments from Los Angeles to Australia. The complaint also names Turkish national Hakan Arif as one of Sian’s main suppliers.
Turkey, under the increasingly corrupt rule of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has become a key hub for global narcotics trafficking.
Sian was arrested in Nevada last month. He disclosed plans to smuggle meth to Australia and chemicals for fentanyl into the US via Canada. Sian met with undercover agents posing as drug smugglers and held talks at a California restaurant in March 2023 to discuss large-scale trafficking via the Port of Long Beach.
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Sian was convicted in July 2007 of careless use of a firearm and sentenced to probation. He was wounded in a shooting in August 2008 that left his friend Gurpreet Sidhu dead. |
Cops responded to a call regarding shots fired at a home in the 12400 block of 90A Avenue in Newton. Gurpreet ‘Gerry’ Singh Sidhu, 21, died in hospital. Opinder Singh Sian, also 21, was injured. A day earlier, a Chilliwack realtor linked to the United Nations gang was gunned down in his car. Sian, a key member of the Brothers Keepers, was targeted again in May 2011.
The direct chemical pipeline from Chinese suppliers into North American distribution networks was exposed. Peter Peng Zhou explained in detail how he could “receive fentanyl precursor chemicals from China into Vancouver” and “send 100 kilos of chemicals per month to Los Angeles” using a B.C. trucking company run by an Indo-Canadian associate. Zhou told ‘Queen’ that he had been doing it for about ten years. He claimed he knew how to make fentanyl and methamphetamine and emphasized that he required payment upfront.
Sian’s arrest has offered new insights into the how the Kinhana gang has struck new ties to traffic drugs via global ports and distribution hubs. The Kinahans are known to have a large pool of connections in Turkey. DEA agents were able to identify multiple aliases used by figures involved in the network, which stretched from Dubai to Istanbul. The biggest-ever cocaine seizure in Irish waters exposed the Kinahan family links to Hezbollah.
