Pizza outlet becomes drug hub: Indian national charged in California

An Indian national has been charged with distributing drugs from a pizza outlet in a California city, the US Department of Justice said.

According to court documents, 50-year-old Kawal Preet Singh, an unlawful resident of the US, sold wholesale quantities of methamphetamine from a Round Table Pizza restaurant he operated in Dinuba, while armed with illegal firearms.

Federal agents searched Singh's home and business on August 18 and seized more than 40 pounds of methamphetamine, three firearms and over USD 10,000 in cash, the Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday.

If convicted, Singh faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, plus a fine of up to USD 10 million, for drug trafficking.

He also faces a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, consecutive to any other sentence, and up to life in prison for possessing a firearm in furtherance of drug trafficking.

Any sentence, however, would be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of applicable statutory factors and the federal sentencing guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

The charges are only allegations; the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

The case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force initiative which is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organisations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad.