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- FBI alerts Sikh separatist Pannun to new threats against his life
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Get you up to speed: Prominent Sikh separatist Pannun says FBI told him of new “imminent threat” against his life
Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun reported new threats to his life being investigated by the FBI following a visit to his New York City home. The threats are linked to his upcoming non-binding referendum in Edmonton, Canada, regarding the independence of Punjab.
FBI agents are investigating leads related to the threats against Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, which they believe may be linked to his planned travel to Canada for a referendum on Sikh independence. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have previously charged Nikhil Gupta and Vikash Yadav in connection with a foiled assassination plot targeting Pannun, with Gupta set to be sentenced in November.
The FBI is currently investigating a new threat to Gurpatwant Singh Pannun’s life, with agents warning him of this “imminent threat” during a visit to his home in New York City. In response to ongoing concerns, Pannun’s organisation, Sikhs for Justice, is set to hold a referendum in Edmonton, Canada, on October 18 regarding the independence of Punjab.
What remains unclear — The FBI has not disclosed specific details about the investigation leads related to the threats against Pannun.
FBI alerts Sikh separatist Pannun to new threats against his life
Sikh separatist Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, who was the target of a foiled 2023 assassination plot allegedly directed by an ex-Indian intelligence official, is facing new threats to his life that are being investigated by the FBI, Pannun told WTX US News on Thursday.
Pannun, a vocal critic of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said that FBI agents paid a visit to his New York City home earlier in the day to warn him about what he called an “imminent threat to my life.”
On Oct. 18, his organization, Sikhs for Justice, plans to hold a non-binding referendum in Edmonton, Canada, on whether the northern Indian province of Punjab should be declared independent and re-named “Khalistan.” Sikhs have been invited to vote on the measure.
Pannun said in a statement that the question is not whether he “survives another assassination plot.” Instead, it’s whether the right of Sikh people to self-determination “can be stopped through assassination threats.”
It cannot,” he said.
FBI agents told Pannun they are investigating leads and said the threat is connected to potential travel to Canada to participate in the referendum but did not provide him with any further information.
The FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan previously charged Indian national Nikhil Gupta and former Indian intelligence officer Vikash Yadav with plotting to assassinate Pannun, a dual American and Canadian citizen.
Gupta, who in February pleaded guilty to murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit money laundering, is set to be sentenced in November, and Pannun is expected to speak at the sentencing.
The alleged plot targeting Pannun unfolded at the same time that Hardeep Singh Nijjar, another prominent Sikh separatist and friend of Pannun, was gunned down and killed in June 2023 by assassins outside his gurdwara in Surrey, British Columbia.
In September 2023, Canadian officials said they had evidence linking his killing to Indian government agents, in violation of Canada’s sovereignty.
India has previously denied involvement in Nijjar’s killing and the attempt on Pannun’s life. It has labeled Sikh separatists as “terrorists” and claims they represent threats to India’s security.
This is not the first time American or Canadian law enforcement officials have warned Pannun of possible credible threats this year. Pannun said that in August and September, he was contacted by both the FBI and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police about other separate threats.
He said the warnings by law enforcement started not long after federal prosecutors in Los Angeles in July announced criminal charges against the prominent leader and eight associates of the Indian organized criminal group known as “Bishnoi,” tying them to Nijjar’s 2023 assassination.
Bishnoi was arrested by Indian authorities in 2015. Despite this, the indictment says he continued to run a global crime syndicate from his prison cell.
Bishnoi’s childhood friend, Satinderjit Singh Brar, allegedly directed the group’s North American operations and is also accused in the indictment of ordering the assassination, the indictment said.
October 12, 2024
6:18 am
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
To downplay the genocide, the israelis claim there’s only 20,000 people left in north Gaza, says
@MahaGaza
: the real number exceeds 400,000
Man of the right wing Nigel Farage taking more second jobs and freebie helicopter rides
Gosh he’ll soon be a true blue Tory at this rate
Or far far worse
The cost-of-living crisis is far from over, yet the government’s 50% increase to the bus fare cap is a political choice, adding hundreds to annual costs.
To address hardship & the climate crisis, the government must keep the £2 cap & make public transport accessible for all.
G20 waters down support for Ukraine amid pressure for peace talks
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November 23, 2024
8:25 am
Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
November 23, 2024
8:25 am
November 23, 2024
8:17 am
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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