What we know about the Canadians arrested in an alleged international drug ring led by a former Olympic athlete – CP24

Canadian Ryan James Wedding finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but the snowboarder would not improve on his results in Turin four years later.

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

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

The group is alleged to have smuggled 1,800 kilos 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 coordinators. drivers, distributors and stock houses.

Here’s what we know about Operation Giant Slalom:

‘El Jefe’

According to his Olympic biography, Wedding was named, but never charged, in a search warrant in Maple Ridge, B.C., investigating an illegal marijuana farm in 2006.

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

That information, which is still publicly available on the official Olympic website, serves as a preview of the criminal career the FBI believes Wedding would embark on over the next decade and a half.

Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Boss” and “Giant,” ran his illegal drug empire from 2011 to 2024, the indictment alleges, in California, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere. He is said to have served as the “chief executive, organizer and leader” of the criminal enterprise, along with 34-year-old Andrew Clark, who is also Canadian.

The duo not only led the operation together, but were also alleged to have presided over the murder of a couple in Caledon, Ont. in “retaliation” 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 “completely innocent,” police said. Their daughter, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, survived.

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

Wedding, Clark and another suspect, identified as 23-year-old Canadian Malik Damion Cunningham, are also charged in a murder in Niagara Falls on April 1, 2024, local police say.

Clark, who according to the FBI lived in Mexico and was known to his associates as “The Dictator,” was arrested in Mexico by local authorities earlier this month. Cunningham was arrested in April. Wedding, who also reportedly lives in Mexico, is at large.

Wedding is the main defendant in the indictment and is wanted on eight charges, including three counts of murder in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise. Clark faces the same charges, as well as an additional murder charge in connection with an ongoing criminal enterprise and drug crime.

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

At a news conference earlier this month, U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada said investigators believe Wedding resumed drug trafficking after his release from prison for his 2010 conviction and has since been protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel.

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

Of the sixteen suspects named in the indictment, fourteen are in custody.

The meeting in Mexico City

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

According to a statement of facts included in the filing, a cooperating witness (CW) at the direction of U.S. law enforcement met the couple sometime that month in Mexico City.

The CW, which began cooperating with police last year, had been dealing drugs with Wedding for more than a decade prior to the meeting, officials allege.

The court document shows that the conversation was “lawfully recorded” and it directed the CW to work with two Canadians in the trucking industry to coordinate shipments of cocaine over the next month.

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

Wedding was not arrested.

Transport

The FBI said Wedding and Clark used a Canadian-based drug transportation network to move their product, and identified Ontario residents Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, as the managers of that part of the operation.

“Defendant Clark would direct an individual to negotiate a transportation agreement with a Canadian-based drug transportation network (the ‘TP’) operated by Defendants Ratte and Singh,” the indictment reads.

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

In one incident, on February 20, 2024, the indictment alleges that Ratte and Singh met face-to-face in Toronto with the CW from the Mexico City meeting.

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

Ratte and Singh included two other Canadians, Rakhim Ibragimov and Gennadii Bilonog, who the indictment alleges worked as “dispatchers” for the network, picking up cocaine from central California for eventual transport to Canada.

In another incident, on March 4, the FBI said a defendant named Carlos Alberto Peña Goyeneche (who is not Canadian) delivered 293 kilos of cocaine to Bilonog and texted Wedding the following: “The standing by boss has the order of 293 delivered.”

While Ibragimov 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 conspiracy.

‘Ride over Niagara, blow these guys up’

The statement of facts also points to coded communications between Clark and Cunningham, with the former allegedly hiring Cunningham “to assassinate a list of targets,” including a victim identified in the court document as RF.

Officials said Cunnigham exchanged messages with Clark on Threema, an encrypted instant messaging app, on March 18, 2024. Cunnigham is said to have written: “Okay, I want to do the easiest thing and go upstairs.”

Clark responded, according to the statement of facts: “Maybe the niagara ginger is falling lol. But it’s not much, 100,000, and I pay the expenses. Ramp, someone else would do it, but put your new military training skills to the test.

The documents further alleged that Clark later told Cunningham to “drive over Niagara and shoot these guys off.”

Other details, including vehicle descriptions and photos that matched evidence police found at the crime scene, were found in the Threema communications, the court documents said.

Cunningham’s phone was also pinged within two miles of RF’s home on April 1, according to the statement of facts. The court documents allege that Cunnigham took a photo on his phone two days after the murder, showing a gun and a large amount of Canadian money with the caption “good night!”

Niagara Regional Police have since 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 alleges became embroiled in a drug debt with Wedding and Clark, with the alleged ring leaders threatening his mother’s life if he didn’t pay up.

Although it is unclear exactly when the transaction took place, the indictment states that Wedding and Clark provided Bonilla with 12 kilos of cocaine. Bonilla paid for seven of those kilos upon delivery and got the remaining five, authorities allege.

Bonilla then allegedly distributed the 12 kilos of cocaine and made an “attempt” to distribute it.

However, the deal went wrong when authorities said Bonilla had not paid the five kilos he received as debt.

“On June 14, 2024, suspect Wedding told suspect Bonilla through Threema, in coded language, that he would kill his mother,” the indictment said.

Bonilla was given until June 17 to pay the balance and would later send Wedding and Clark a two-kilogram payment via a form of cryptocurrency.

As for the remaining three kilos still owed, the DOJ said Bonilla agreed to send a driver to Laval, Quebec to sell approximately 20 kilos of methamphetamine as payment to Wedding and Clark.

“On June 25, 2024, Defendant Wedding told CS (a confidential source working with law enforcement) through Threema, in coded language, that Defendant Bonilla paid him in full for the 5 kilos of cocaine.”

With files from Bryann Aguilar