Canada is taking measures to prevent the release on bail of three individuals allegedly connected to Ryan Wedding’s drug-trafficking network, as revealed in a Toronto court session. Gursewak Singh Bal, Deepak Balwant Paradkar, and Rolan Sokolovski, who were apprehended in Ontario recently, are facing extradition to the U.S. to answer for their purported involvement in the drug operation. The Department of Justice Canada is contesting their release, as stated by Marin Nati, representing the department during a brief hearing at the Superior Court of Justice conducted via videoconference.
Bal, accused by U.S. prosecutors of assisting in arranging the assassination of an FBI witness, appeared remotely from a jail in Kawartha Lakes, Ontario. Paradkar, a well-known lawyer in the Toronto area, allegedly advised Wedding on eliminating the witness, while Sokolovski, a local jeweler and professional poker player, is accused of laundering proceeds from Wedding’s illicit activities.
Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder facing charges of leading a drug-smuggling operation in Mexico, is among the FBI’s top 10 most-wanted fugitives with a $15 million reward on his head. He has been evading authorities since 2015 when the RCMP exposed a large-scale drug-importing scheme he was allegedly involved in.
The trio, Bal, Paradkar, and Sokolovski, are currently detained in separate jails in Ontario, with their lawyers indicating their intention to seek bail. Paradkar and Sokolovski have upcoming bail hearings scheduled for December 10 and 11, respectively, while Bal is set to appear on December 17 to arrange a bail hearing date. The defense counsel for Sokolovski, Scott K. Fenton, mentioned that they do not plan to discuss the case publicly while it is before the courts.
In a separate development, a Vancouver man, Rasheed Pascua Hossain, suspected of being a significant money launderer for Wedding, is expected to appear in a British Columbia court. Hossain, known as “JP Morgan,” was arrested by the RCMP following a period of evading authorities.
Furthermore, prosecutors have brought new charges against Wedding and his alleged associates in California, linking them to cocaine trafficking, money laundering, and the killing of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, a drug trafficker turned informant. The network is alleged to have generated over $1 billion in annual revenues. Additionally, other individuals associated with Wedding’s criminal enterprise have faced legal action in connection to various criminal activities.