The mastermind behind New Zealand’s biggest-ever meth importation has been identified as an Indian businessman whose Sikh separatist uncle shot dead India’s prime minister.
Baltej Singh, 33, was jailed for 22 years in the High Court of Auckland in February last year for possession of 700kg of methamphetamine, but his named was supressed by a court order put in place to protect him and his family until now.
Indian media revealed Singh’s identity after he was sentenced, citing “intelligence sources”, but the drug lord’s family in Punjab dismissed the reports as “fake news”.
But Singh has now abandoned a bid for permanent name suppression, Stuff reported, confirming he was behind the meth importation after his legal team had previously successfully argued he and his family would be in danger if he was identified.
Singh’s father said in an affidavit to the court his family was “notorious” among Sikhs and Hindus worldwide due to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by bodyguard Satwant Singh in 1984 after she ordered a military operation to remove Sikh militants from the holiest site in Sikhism, the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The affidavit claimed the family were subject to constant threats, intimidation and violence, and Justice Kiri Tahana ruled in Singh’s favour. The Crown then won an appeal against permanent suppression, and Singh sought to take the matter to the Supreme Court before ultimately abandoning that effort.
The appeal judges found it was in the public interest for Singh’s identity to be known, and found that anyone who wanted to harm him because he is Satwant Singh’s nephew would already be aware of his identity.
Singh’s family moved to New Zealand in the 1980s, and Indian media reported that the family’s links to the assassin were well known in Auckland’s Indian community, that Singh was involved in pro-Khalistan activities, and that another uncle was close to jailed separatist MP Amritpal Singh.
The drug trial heard Singh, then a respected businessman in south Auckland, imported cans of coconut water containing meth precursor chemical ephedrine and meth from New Delhi, Honey Bear beer containing meth from Canada, and drug-laced kombucha from the US, between 2021 and 2023.
He and another man, Himatjit Singh Khalon, then moved the thousands of cans and bottles to a storage unit where the pair unpacked them.
A 21-year-old man, Aidan Sagala, then died of an overdose after having a few sips of one of the beers, which was given to him by Kahlon.
Kahlon was later jailed for 21 years for manslaughter and drug supply after a jury found he was reckless in not checking the beer he gave to Sagala was not one of the 126 out of 24,000 that contained meth.
Days after Sagala’s death Singh was arrested at Auckland Airport while trying to fly to Dubai, and police then found 700kg of liquid and crystallised meth in the industrial unit, and seized $130,000 cash.
Singh tried to claim he was “forced” into importing the drugs, but the court rejected his explanation. He will be eligible for parole in 2035.
Header image: Left, Baltej Singh. Right, the beer shipment that contained the cans of meth (NZ Police).
The post New Zealand’s biggest meth importer revealed as Indian from notorious Sikh family first appeared on The Noticer.
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