Toronto man linked to Ryan Wedding takes plea deal, Punjabi trucker pinched
· Toronto Sun
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Piece by piece, law enforcement is dismantling ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding’s alleged far-flung criminal empire.
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Now, Uzbekistan-born Rakhim Ibragimov — called the “Russian” or “George” — has reportedly taken a plea deal in Los Angeles for being part of a plot to smuggle 375 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
Ibragimov, who lives in Toronto, was arrested by U.S. law enforcement in April 2024. He had allegedly travelled to Los Angeles to oversee the next stage of the cocaine shipment.
Initially, Ibragimov was sprung and returned to Toronto before being arrested by cops here in October 2024. He was ensnared in a sweep that led to more than a dozen arrests of Wedding’s alleged co-conspirators in Canada, the U.S., Mexico and Colombia.
Some of the charges included drug trafficking and murder.
Wedding hit the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in November with a $15 million bounty on his head. He was arrested in Mexico City in January after more than a decade on the run.
L.A. was Wedding’s logistics hub
According to CBC News , Ibragimov’s involvement was on the logistics end of the operation and ensuring a smooth passage of the cocaine from Southern California over the Canadian border. According to investigators, L.A. was the hub of Wedding’s $1-billion cocaine and fentanyl operation.
Cops say Ibragimov was nabbed while loading boxes packed with blow into his car. He is expected to formally plead guilty on July 8.
Meanwhile, on the border, the beat goes on.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Office of Field Operations intercepted 133 pounds of cocaine headed for Canada near the Blue Water Bridge on Thursday.
According to reports, CBP officers discovered 55 shrink wrapped bricks of a white powdery substance concealed within two cardboard boxes. The truck headed to Canada and was selected for inspection.
The cargo was later confirmed to be cocaine. The drugs, truck and trailer have all been seized and the driver, an Indian national, is facing federal prosecution. His name was not released.
Driver an Indian national
Not far away in a Sarnia courtroom, another trucker accused of smuggling $4 million in cocaine across the Blue Water Bridge testified Tuesday he saw a mysterious man in a company truck yard while his trailer was unattended for 10 to 15 minutes.
Ranjit Singh, 33, also an Indian national, pleaded not guilty this month to importing cocaine and possessing cocaine for trafficking.
On April 26, 2024, Canadian authorities discovered 40 kilograms of cocaine worth between $3.6 million and $4.8 million in two Home Depot boxes in a tractor-trailer on the Canadian side of the bridge.
Someone planted the drugs, trucker claims
Speaking through a Punjabi interpreter, Singh claimed he was told to go to a trucking company’s yard in Lansing, Mich., and switch trucks with another driver.
The switch never happened, but while he was there and the two drivers got food, he saw a third person in the yard neither of them knew. He couldn’t describe the man because it was dark at the time.
Singh testified he went to the bathroom there for 10 to 15 minutes and couldn’t see the back of his trailer during this time. When he returned, he didn’t check the seals on his trailer before leaving.
Singh doesn’t dispute drugs were found in the truck but someone else put them there in the Home Depot boxes. Nor did he know about two duffel bags found in the truck.
The trucker also denied having financial troubles and that no one approached him about bringing the dope over the border. The trial continues.
— With files from Postmedia News
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