Chandigarh, Nov 8 The Punjab Police, with the support of central agencies, has secured the deportation of wanted gangster Gurwinder alias Afridi from Ethiopia following a 10-month international manhunt.
He was taken into custody by the Punjab Police at Delhi airport and is being brought to Punjab to face the law, police said on Sunday.
Punjab DGP Gaurav Yadav said this marks the first-ever deportation of a fugitive secured by the state police from an African country.
The Anti-Gangster Task Force (AGTF) of the Punjab Police, in close coordination with the Overseas Fugitive Tracking and Extradition Cell (OFTEC) of Counter Intelligence, and with the support of central agencies, secured the deportation of fugitive gangster Gurwinder Singh alias Afridi from Ethiopia, he said.
Gurwinder alias Afridi, an alleged key kingpin of the Doni Bal-Prabh Dassuwal gang, was carrying a reward of Rs 5 lakh announced by the Punjab government on information leading to his arrest. He is accused of directing targeted killings, extortion-related firing incidents and organised criminal networks in Punjab while operating from abroad. He is wanted in more than 30 heinous criminal cases, including five murder cases, attempt to murder, extortion, and Arms Act offences, according to police.
Afridi is wanted in five sensational murder cases in Punjab, including the murders of Sarpanch Rajwinder alias Raj Talwandi (October 2024), 12-year-old boy Gursewak Singh (March 2025), Vicky Chugh (March 2025), Jaswant Singh (May 2025) and Congress Block President Gurmel Singh (September 2025), police said.
DGP Yadav, who was accompanied by Special DGP AGTF Promod Ban and Special DGP Counter Intelligence Amit Prasad, told reporters, “This marks the first-ever deportation of a fugitive secured by the Punjab Police from an African country, heralding a new chapter in the state’s relentless crackdown against organised crime.”
“The operation marks the successful culmination of ‘Operation SHAHID ‘, a 10-month-long intelligence-led international manhunt involving sustained surveillance, strategic intelligence gathering, and tracking across multiple countries in Asia, South America and Africa, executed in close coordination with national and international agencies,” he said.
The Operation SHAHID was executed under the close supervision of IGP OFTEC of Counter Intelligence wing Ashish Chaudhary, who oversaw international coordination and follow-up efforts, and was led by SP (AGTF/OFTEC OPs) Bikramjit Singh Brar, according to officials.
DGP Yadav said Afridi had fled abroad from Mumbai airport to the UAE on March 31, 2025, using a fake passport fraudulently obtained under the particulars of a Gorakhpur resident and issued from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, on February 12, 2025.
“The accused was constantly evading law enforcement agencies across several continents,” he said, adding that initially holed up in the UAE, accused Gurwinder Afridi attempted to flee to Mexico via Istanbul, but was deported back to the UAE. Subsequently, he slipped into Kenya in April 2026, travelled onwards to Angola in June 2026, and moved to Ethiopia in November 2026.
Yadav said that the Punjab Police got a Red Notice issued against Gurwinder Afridi, shared inputs regarding his fake identity and movements with central agencies at critical intervals, and had as many as seven INTERPOL references issued.
The persistent multi-agency pursuit led to his detention in Ethiopia on November 6 and his subsequent deportation to India. He was taken into custody by Punjab Police at New Delhi Airport and is being brought to Punjab to face the law, Yadav said.
The DGP commended the tireless efforts of AGTF and OFTEC teams, and thanked the Ministry of External Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and central intelligence and enforcement agencies for their seamless international cooperation in securing this deportation.
(PTI News)
