What we know about Canadians caught in international drug ring allegedly led by CP24, a former Olympian

Canadian Ryan James Wedding placed 24th in the parallel giant slalom at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, but the snowboarder was unable to continue to improve his results in Turin four years later.

Instead, the FBI alleges the 43-year-old is the “Boss” of a multinational drug trafficking ring who allegedly transported tens of millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine to four countries and ordered four murders in Canada.

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

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

Here’s what we know about Operation Giant Slalom:

‘El Jefe’

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

Two years after that, he was arrested for trying to buy cocaine from a US government agent and was subsequently convicted and sentenced to four years in prison.

This information, still publicly available on the official Olympic website, serves as a preview of the criminal career the FBI claims Wedding will launch over the next decade and the period following.

The indictment states that Wedding, whose nicknames were “El Jefe,” “Boss” and “Giant,” ran his illegal drug empire in California, Mexico, Colombia, Canada and elsewhere from 2011 to 2024. It is alleged that he served as the “chief executive, organizer and leader” of the criminal organization alongside 34-year-old Andrew Clark, who is also Canadian.

The duo not only ran the operation together, but also allegedly orchestrated the murder of a couple in Caledon, Ontario on November 20, 2023. The indictment alleges “retaliation” for a shipment of stolen drugs passing through Southern California. But police said the couple, 57-year-old Jagtar Singh Sidhu and 55-year-old Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, were the unintended targets of the attack and were “completely innocent”. He is survived by their daughter Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28.

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

Wedding, Clark and another suspect identified as Malik Damion Cunningham, a 23-year-old Canadian, also face charges related to a murder that occurred in Niagara Falls on April 1, 2024, local police said.

Clark, who the FBI says lives in Mexico and is known to his affiliates as “The Dictator,” was arrested by local authorities in Mexico earlier this month. Cunningham was arrested in April. It is stated that Wedding, who is reported to reside in Mexico, is a fugitive.

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

Beyond the indictment, Wedding faces separate “unresolved” 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 Wedding continued drug trafficking after being released from prison for his 2010 conviction and has been protected by Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel ever since.

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

14 of the 16 suspects named in the indictment are in custody.

Mexico City meeting

Details revealed 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 the facts included in the application, at the direction of US law enforcement, a cooperating witness (CW) met the duo at a location in Mexico City that month.

Authorities allege CW, who began working with police last year, had been smuggling drugs with Wedding more than a decade before the meeting.

The court document shows the conversation was “lawfully recorded,” which directed CW to coordinate with two Canadians in the trucking industry the following month to coordinate cocaine shipments.

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

The wedding was not arrested.

public transportation

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

“Defendant Clark will direct an individual to negotiate a transportation agreement with a Canada-based 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 caches, and delivered to TP’s “couriers” for transportation to Canada in long-haul semi-trucks.

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

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

Ratte and Singh had two other Canadians under their direction, Rakhim Ibragimov and Gennadii Bilonog, who the indictment alleges worked as “dispatchers” for the network, collecting cocaine from central California for eventual shipment to Canada.

In another incident on March 4, the FBI said a defendant named Carlos Alberto Peña Goyeneche (a non-Canadian) delivered 293 kilos of cocaine to Bilonog and texted Wedding: “Ready boss delivered order for 293.”

Ibragimov was arrested by police in Ontario last week, while 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.

‘Go over Niagara, get over these guys’

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

On March 18, 2024, Cunnigham exchanged messages with Clark over the encrypted instant messaging app Threema, authorities said. Cunnigham allegedly wrote: “Okay, I want to do the easiest thing and move on.”

According to the statement of facts, Clark responded: “Maybe Niagara Falls is ginger hahaha. But 100 thousand is not much and I will pay for the Driveaway job that someone else will do, but let’s test your new military training skills.”

The documents claimed Clark then told Cunningham to “go over Niagara and knock this guy off.”

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

According to the facts, Cunningham’s phone was also pinged on April 1, two kilometers from RF’s residence. Court documents allege Cunnigham found a handgun and a large amount of Canadian currency on his phone two days after the murder, along with a text saying “good night!” He claims to have taken a photo with the caption:

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

At wedding, Clark threatened to kill co-defendant’s mother: indictment

Another Canadian named in the indictment is Nahim Jorge Bonilla, who the FBI alleges was involved in a drug debt with Wedding and Clark and threatened his mother’s life if the gang leaders did not pay the debt.

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

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

However, the agreement fell through after authorities said Bonilla could not pay the five kilograms he had borrowed.

“On June 14, 2024, defendant Wedding told defendant Bonilla that he would kill her mother, using coded language via Threema,” the indictment states.

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

As for the remaining three kilos of debt, the Department of Justice 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, through Threema, defendant Wedding used coded language to tell CS (a confidential source working with law enforcement) that defendant Bonilla had paid her for the entire 5 kilograms of cocaine.”

With files from Bryann Aguilar