Two Canadian-resident long-haul truck drivers — Iqbal Singh Virk and Ranjit Singh Rowal — have pleaded guilty to drug-trafficking charges tied to the sprawling narcotics network led by former Olympian-turned-fugitive Ryan Wedding, according to U.S. court filings and cross-border investigations.
According to court documents, the pair were among the transportation “wheelmen” contracted by the cartel to move multi-hundred-kilogram loads of cocaine from a stash hub in Southern California into Canada. Their 18-wheeler trucks — registered in Brampton, Ontario — routinely carried legitimate cargo to mask their illicit loads. On 28 August 2024, at the U.S.–Canada border bridge at Michigan/Ontario, U.S. Customs officers discovered a hidden compartment in their trailer containing 124 kg of pressed cocaine, with an estimated street value of roughly US $4 million.
The operation — dubbed Operation Giant Slalom — was the result of a months-long joint probe by the FBI and Canada’s federal police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The network allegedly specialized in bulk cocaine shipments from Colombia to Mexico, through Southern California stash houses, then to Canada using commercial trucking firms.
In plea agreements, both drivers admitted they knowingly participated in a conspiracy to distribute cocaine and acknowledged that their cargo was destined for further distribution across North America. They agreed to forfeit the trucking equipment used in the smuggling operation, including their tractor-trailer.
In the wake of these convictions — the first for any Canadians caught in the probe — authorities have highlighted the critical role played by transport logistics, covert compartments, and cross-border truck routes in sustaining the narcotics pipeline. Prosecutors said the smugglers would coordinate delivery points in Los Angeles with encrypted communications; once the cocaine bricks were handed over by cartel operatives, truckers like Virk and Rowal would haul them toward Canada under cover of legitimate freight.
Meanwhile, law-enforcement agencies have significantly escalated efforts to apprehend Wedding — who remains a fugitive under a US$15 million reward, and is described by the FBI as one of the most dangerous international drug lords in recent memory.
The collapse of this leg of the network shows that even deeply embedded transport and logistics operatives are not immune from justice when international cooperation is applied. Dalena Reporters will continue to monitor the long-arm investigations, potential extraditions, and the broader implications for Canada’s role in global narcotics smuggling.