In a nationwide crackdown on the cocaine trafficking ring run by Ryan James Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder, 10 people, including two men of Indian origin, have been arrested and face extradition to the US.
Wedding, one of the FBI’s 10 most wanted fugitives, allegedly offered a multi-million-dollar bounty on an FBI witness who was shot dead in Colombia in January. The witness had been due to testify against him in another case. US authorities say Wedding is hiding in Mexico with help from the Sinaloa Cartel, which allegedly moved tonnes of cocaine from Colombia into North America via Mexico.
The two men identified are Deepak Paradkar, a defence lawyer, and Gursewak Bal, a crime blogger. Their arrests follow a nine-count federal grand jury indictment from the US government.
Who is Deepak Paradkar?
Deepak Balwant Paradkar, 62, is a defence lawyer from Thornhill, Ontario. The US indictment alleges he went beyond legal counsel and advised Wedding and aide Andrew Clark to murder an FBI witness, saying that without the witness the case would be dismissed and he could “avoid extradition from Mexico.” The Department of Justice says Paradkar allowed Wedding and associates to eavesdrop on privileged communications between Paradkar and other clients, several of whom Wedding wanted killed.
Who is Gursewak Bal?
Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, from Mississauga, Ontario, is described by the US Justice Department as an operator of a would-be gangland news website. He is accused of assisting Wedding’s trafficking ring by posting on The Dirty News, which authorities have seized. He allegedly accepted 10,000 Canadian dollars to publish a photograph of the Colombian witness and his wife to help Wedding locate them.
Others arrested include Atna Ohna, 40 (Laval, Quebec); Allistair Chapman, 33 (Calgary); Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, 35 (Edmonton); Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, 47 (Bogotá, Colombia); Yulieth Katherine Tejada, 36 (Florida, US; Colombian legal permanent resident); Edwin Basora-Hernandez, 31 (Montréal); Wilson Riascos, 45 (Cali, Colombia); and Rolan Sokolovski, 37 (Toronto).
The arrests were made during Operation Giant Slalom, involving the FBI, US Treasury, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Colombian National Police. The operation’s name references Wedding’s snowboarding background.
