Your Singhs today - Part of the Wedding party nabbed at the border

In a story straight out of Border Security, two graduates of the notorious Singh School of Truck Driving -- Ranjit Singh Rowal and Iqbal Singh Virk -- both "Toronto men", have agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and other federal charges in California, in connection with a transnational drug-smuggling conspiracy, allegedly led by former Team Canada Olympian Ryan Wedding.

The Sikh gentlemen are the first Canadians to sign plea deals with US prosecutors following the FBI's "Operation Giant Slalom", a massive investigation revealed last fall. The probe -- named after Mr Wedding's previous career as an elite snowboarder [snowboarder, geddit? Ed.] -- sought to dismantle his alleged drug trafficking network, which uses commercial transport trucks to move tons of cocaine and fentanyl across North America.

The group has also been linked to at least four murders in Ontario. Mr Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Olympic Games in Utah, is listed as one of the FBI's most-wanted fugitives, with a $10-million reward offered for information leading to his capture. Readers may send their tips to Walt at the usual address, and I will definitely pass them on the relevant authorities.

According to documents recently filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, .Messrs Virk and Rowal have each committed to plead guilty to charges including conspiracy to distribute cocaine. The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison.

They were arrested in August of last year as they tried to cross the Blue Water Bridge from Michigan to Sarnia ON, while carrying 95 kg of cocaine bricks and 20 kg of heroin in a secret compartment in the trailer. 

They attempted to conceal the drugs by carrying legal goods and documentation to show the products were meant to be hauled from the US. to Canada. However, CBP agents pulled their truck over for a secondary inspection, where an X-ray scanner and a sniffer dog revealed the "non-factory" compartment.

CBC News discovered that the trailer was registered to a company based in Brampton ON linked to Mr Rowal. A grand jury indictment unsealed last October named him and Mr Virk -- Indian citizens who hold permanent resident status in Canada -- as well as 14 others as members of Mr Wedding's drug ring. 

The indictment said the pair worked on behalf of a transportation network that handled the gang's shipments to Canada. However, the transnational criminal operation didn't always go smoothly. Court documents reveal an internal dispute in May 2024 led to one big drug shipment being called off. 

According to the plea, Messrs Virk and Rowal pulled over at a rest stop in southern California, expecting to receive a 347-kg load of cocaine. Their truck, however, only had room for 250 kg. Through an intermediary, Mr Wedding purportedly offered to pay C$150,000 (about $108,000 in real money) to move the reduced shipment, instead of the agreed rate of $220,000. 

But Gurpreet Singh, a Sikh and allegedly a leader of the transportation network, wouldn't agree to the cut rate.The shipment was called off. Mr Singh and his uncle, Hardeep Singh Ratte, who are accused of co-ordinating cocaine shipments to Canada for Mr Wedding, both remain in custody in Ontario while facing extradition to the US of A. How difficult it must be at the jail when the guards call for "Singh" and everybody stands up!

CBC News recently reported that a historic drug bust in Peel Region, west of Toronto, mirrored the smuggling route used by the Sikh truckers. Peel police (known locally as "boobies") said it's highly likely the Wedding network remains active in the so-called Greater Toronto Area.

Mr Wedding -- alias "Public Enemy", "Giant", "El Jefe", and "The Boss" -- is said to still trafficking drugs while on the run, and to have access to a network of hitmen. The FBI thinks he may be hiding in... wait for it... Mexico, under the protection of the murderous Sinaloa cartel.

Note from Ed.: This is an edited version of a report by Thomas Daigle, of CBC News. Since the Canadian Broadcorping Castration is funded by Canada's very Liberal government, we assume they don't need any money they might get by suing us.

Your Singhs today (Vancouver edition)

Meet Opinder Singh Sian, soon to appear in the United States District Court in California  to face charges that he was the North American leader of an international drug smuggling organization, moving huge amounts of methamphetamine and fentanyl precursors around the globe.

Mr Sian hails from the majority-Sikh city of Surrey BC. He is no stranger to the courts, with a record going back to 2007 when he was convicted of careless use of a firearm and obstruction of a peace officer. Between then and 2010, he was regularly stopped by police, often in vehicles with other gangsters.

Evidently he didn't learn that if you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas, for in August of 2008 he was seriously injured in a shootout in Surrey that left one Gurpreet Singh Sidhu dead. Mr Sian's injuries were so serious that he received support from the Crime Victim Assistance Program. Who said crime doesn't pay?

In March 2009, police executed a search warrant at the family home in Surrey and found cash and drugs. No charges resulted. However, Mr Sian was well on his way to becoming a major player in the Lower Mainland underworld. He survived targeted shootings and reportedly leads the Brothers Keepers gang — a key proxy for the Sinaloa cartel in Canada, interoperable with other Latin American cartels, Chinese Communist Party chemical suppliers, and working alongside the Kinahans, a notorious Irish crime family now based in Dubai and closely linked to Hezbollah finance networks. 

British Columbia's anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit wouldn't comment on Sian’s involvement with the Brothers Keepers gang. Spokesthingy Cpl. Sarbjit Singh Sangha (no relation, shurely) said in an e-mail to the Vancouver Sun, "We do not have any active investigation on this person."

No indeed! Mr Sian was arrested in sunny Arizona ("Sunnier than California, you bet!") and indicted in a sweeping US case that underscores British Columbia’s critical role as a global trafficking hub, bringing together Mexican cartels and Chinese precursor suppliers that operate with near impunity in Vancouver, but, since President Trump called attention to cross-border crime, have become the focus of elite American law enforcement. 

At one point during the three-year-long investigation by the DEA, Mr Sian allegedly told a confidential source that he worked with "Irish organized crime, specifically, the Kinahan family, Italian organized crime and other Canadian organized cime families." He also boasted about his contacts in drug cartels in Mexico and South America. Hey, isn't that what free trade is all about?!

Sidelight: According to the report in the Vancouver Sun, the international drug kingpin also ran into a spot of trouble a decade ago, when he tried to get his purported bride into the Great No-longer-white North. Canada's Immigration Appeal Board ruled his marriage to Sikhjeet Kaur Gill a sham. 

The biggest red flag to adjudicator Tim Crowhurst was that Ms Gill didn't even know Mr Sian had been seriously injured in the 2008 gangland shooting mentioned above, or that he had a criminal record. Wrote the judge, "This background is particularly relevant to this appeal because the applicant was not aware of the appellant’s criminal history, nor the shooting, nor his work experience at the time of marriage. The panel finds that this is very important information that would be expected to be shared by two persons entering into a genuine relationship." Well, duh!