What we know about Canadians exposed in alleged international drug ring led by ex-Olympic athlete – CP24

Canada’s Ryan James Wedding placed 24th in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but the snowboarder failed to improve on his result in Turin four years later.

Instead, the FBI alleges that the 43-year-old became the “boss” of a multinational drug-trafficking ring that allegedly moved tens of millions of dollars worth of cocaine across four countries and ordered four murders in Canada.

In a 53-page indictment unsealed by the US Department of Justice on October 17 and obtained by CTV News Toronto, officials laid out the inner workings of the alleged operation, which also named nine other Canadians.

The group allegedly transported 1,800 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $25 million, over several months from Colombia through Mexico and Southern California to Canada and other parts of the United States using a complex network of dispatchers, drivers. , distributors and cachers.

Here’s what we know about Operation Giant Slalom:

El Jefe

According to his Olympic biography, Wedding was named but not charged in a 2006 search warrant in Maple Ridge, B.C., that investigated the illegal cultivation of marijuana.

Two years later, he was arrested and later convicted of trying to buy cocaine from a US government agent and sentenced to four years in prison.

The information, which is still publicly available on the Olympic Games’ official website, serves as a preview of the criminal career the FBI says Vesdil would embark on over the next decade.

Winding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “The Boss” and “The Giant,” ran his illegal drug empire from 2011 to 2024, the indictment says, in California, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and other countries. He is alleged to have been the “principal administrator, organizer and leader” of the criminal enterprise, along with 34-year-old Andrew Clarke, who is also Canadian.

The duo not only ran the operation together, but also allegedly masterminded the murder of the couple on November 20, 2023 in Caledon, Ontario. in “retribution” for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California, the indictment alleges. However, the couple, Jagtar Singh Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55, were the unintended targets of the shooting and were, according to police, “completely innocent”. Their daughter Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, survived.

In addition to the Caledon double murder, Wedding and Clark also allegedly ordered the murder of another victim in Brampton on May 18, 2024 over a drug debt.

Winding, Clarke and another suspect, identified as 23-year-old Canadian Malik Damion Cunningham, also face charges in the April 1, 2024, homicide in Niagara Falls, local police said.

Clark, who the FBI said lived in Mexico and was known to affiliates as “The Dictator,” was arrested in Mexico by local authorities earlier this month. Cunningham was arrested in April. Winding, who also reportedly lives in Mexico, remains at large.

Winding is the lead defendant in the indictment and is wanted on eight counts, including three counts of murder in connection with a continuing criminal organization. Clark faces the same charges, plus an additional charge of murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug offenses.

In addition to the indictment, Wedding faces separate “undisclosed” drug trafficking charges in Canada dating back to 2015, according to the RCMP.

Speaking at a press conference earlier this month, U.S. District Attorney Martin Estrada said investigators believe Vending resumed drug dealing after he was released from prison for his 2010 conviction and has been protected by the cartel ever since. Sinaloa in Mexico.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for his arrest.

Of the 16 suspects named in the indictment, 14 are in custody.

Meeting in Mexico City

Details released in an extradition court filing obtained by CTV News Toronto show police south of the border knew where Wedding and Clark were in January 2024.

According to a statement of facts included in the statement, at the behest of US law enforcement, a cooperating witness (CW) met with the couple somewhere in Mexico City that month.

Officials say CW, who began working with police last year, had been dealing drugs with Wedding for more than a decade before the encounter.

The court document shows that the conversation was “legally recorded” and in it, CW was ordered to coordinate with two Canadians in the trucking industry next month to coordinate the shipment of cocaine.

“Clark told CW that Wedding would transport up to 350 kilograms of cocaine at a time,” the document states.

The wedding was not arrested.

Transport

The FBI said Wesding and Clark used a Canadian drug transportation network to move their products and identified Ontario residents Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh as the ringleaders of that part of the operation.

“Defendant Clark directed an individual to negotiate transportation with a Canadian drug transportation network (“TP”) operated by Defendants Ratte and Singh,” the indictment states.

According to the Department of Justice, cocaine shipments were transported from Mexico to the Los Angeles area, stored in warehouses, and delivered to TP “couriers” for transportation to Canada using long-haul semi-trucks.

In one incident, which occurred on February 20, 2024, the indictment alleges that Ratte and Singh had an in-person meeting in Toronto with CW from a meeting in Mexico City.

During that meeting, the FBI alleges, Rhett and Singh agreed to transport DTO cocaine from California to Canada for a flat fee of $220,000 per shipment.

Under the direction of Ratte and Singh were two other Canadians, Rahim Ibrahimov and Gennady Bilonog, who, the indictment alleges, worked as “dispatchers” for the network, collecting cocaine from central California for further transportation to Canada.

In another incident on March 4, the FBI said a defendant named Carlos Alberto Peña Goyeneche (who is not Canadian) delivered 293 kilograms of cocaine to White Leg and texted Wesding: “Ready boss delivered order 293.”

Although Ibrahimov was arrested by police in Ontario last week, Bilonog remains at large.

Two other drivers, identified as Canadians Ranjit Singh Rowal and Iqbal Singh Virk, were also arrested in the US for their alleged involvement in the plot.

“Drive Over Niagara Blow It Up Guys Top”

The statement of facts also points to a coded communication between Clark and Cunningham in which the former allegedly hired Cunningham “to kill a list of targets,” which included the victim, identified as RF in the court document.

On March 18, 2024, Cunningham exchanged messages with Clark on Threema, an encrypted instant messaging app, officials said. Cunningham allegedly wrote: “Okay, I want to take it easy and keep my head up.”

Clark replied, according to the statement of facts, “Maybe Niagara Falls is ginger, lol. But it’s not that much 100k and I will pay the expenses. Someone else was going to do the Driveaway job, but give your new military training skills a good test.”

The documents further alleged that Clarke later told Cunningham to “drive through Niagara, knock these guys over.”

Other details, including vehicle descriptions and photos that matched evidence found by police at the crime scene, were found in the Threema message, according to court documents.

According to the statement of facts, on April 1, Cunningham’s phone was also pinged within a radius of two kilometers from the residence of the Russian Federation. Court documents allege that two days after the murder, Cunningham took a photo on his phone showing a gun and a large amount of Canadian currency with the caption “goodnight!”

Niagara Regional Police later identified the victim as 29-year-old Ryan Fader.

Wedding, Clark threatens to kill co-defendant’s mother: indictment

Another Canadian named in the indictment is Nahim Jorge Bonilla, who the FBI says was involved in a drug debt with Wedding and Clark, who saw the alleged ringleaders threaten his mother’s life if he didn’t pay up.

While it’s unclear exactly when the transaction took place, the indictment says Wedding and Clark provided Bonilla with 12 kilograms of cocaine. Bonilla paid for seven of those kilograms after delivery and received the remaining five, authorities say.

Bonilla then allegedly distributed and “attempted” to distribute 12 kilograms of cocaine.

However, the deal fell through when authorities said Bonilla failed to pay the five kilograms he was owed.

“On June 14, 2024, via Threema, using coded language, Defendant Wedding told Defendant Bonilla that he was going to kill his mother,” the indictment states.

Bonilli was given until June 17 to pay the balance, after which he would send Vending and Clark payment for the two kilograms via cryptocurrency.

As for the remaining three kilograms owed, the Justice Department said Bonilla agreed to send a driver to Laval, Quebec, to sell about 20 kilograms of methamphetamine as payment to Vending and Clark.

“On June 25, 2024, via Threema, using coded language, Defendant Wedding informed CS (a confidential source working with law enforcement) that Defendant Bonilla had paid him in full for 5 kilograms of cocaine.”

With files from Brian Aguilar