Harpreet Singh, otherwise called Happy Passia, is a notorious gangster and wanted mastermind of a series of grenade explosions that rocked Punjab and has been apprehended in America in a great triumph for the Indian and US investigating agencies. Passia of Passia village at Ajnala in Punjab has been arrested at Sacramento in California by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in collaboration with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO).
He was a clandestine US entrant who had entered from Mexico in 2021 and was employing burner phones to avoid detection. The arrest follows years of work by Indian agencies, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) also offering a ₹5 lakh reward for details that would lead to his arrest.
Passia is reported to have orchestrated at least 14—and up to 16, according to some estimates—terror strikes in Punjab, such as major grenade blasts targeting police stations, religious places, and residences of public figures like BJP leader Manoranjan Kalia. One of the most sensational attacks was the 2025 January bombing of the vehicle of a senior police officer near the Gumtala police post in Amritsar, which Passia later claimed and issued further threats.
Investigations have confirmed his working links to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Babbar Khalsa International (BKI), and the networks of late Harvinder Singh Rinda. He was also chargesheeted by the NIA in the case of the 2024 Chandigarh grenade attack, along with other key operatives.
The FBI’s Sacramento division confirmed his arrest on social media, describing Passia as an “alleged terrorist responsible for terror attacks in Punjab” and highlighting his connections to two international terrorist organizations.
This high-profile detention underscores growing India-US cooperation in counter-terrorism and marks a major victory for agencies tracking Punjabi gangsters and terror operatives abroad.
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