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Guramrit Sidhu allegedly organized for business transport truck drivers to cover medication of their official a great deal of cargo and drive them into Canada
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Revealed Feb 10, 2025 • Final up to date 19 hours in the past • 6 minute learn
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Left: Alleged drug trafficker Guramrit Sidhu from Brampton, Ontario, and alleged affiliate in crime Ivan Gravel Gonzalez of Trois-Rivières, Quebec. Photograph by Handouts
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Behind a veil of secrecy, an Ontario man named because the boss of a community of truck drivers smuggling giant a great deal of cocaine and meth from California into Canada has given up his struggle towards extradition and surrendered to U.S. authorities.
Guramrit Sidhu, 61, of Brampton, west of Toronto, allegedly also called “King,” was arrested a 12 months in the past in Ontario on the request of the US, the place he’s accused of orchestrating a large-volume drug trafficking community. On Halloween, U.S. Marshalls introduced Sidhu right into a Los Angeles courtroom for the primary time.
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In between these milestones, Sidhu’s case in Ontario was deemed so delicate his whole file was sealed by a courtroom order.
Nonetheless, right here’s what occurred.
When Operation Deceased Hand was introduced in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2024, Sidhu and a few of the different Canadians swept up within the drama had been overshadowed by massive allegations and better-known names.
In the US, there have been needed fugitives linked to Mexican drug cartels and distracting mountains of cocaine surrounding the rostrum on the press convention; in Canada, there was a person with a infamous final title: Roberto Scoppa, brother of two leaders in a faction of the Montreal Mafia who had been killed in 2019 throughout a mob conflict.
“This conspiracy spanned three countries and involved drug suppliers connected to cartels in Mexico, drug distributors and brokers in Los Angeles, Canadian truck drivers and a network that exported drugs into Canada, and even an associate of the Italian Mafia in Montreal,” U.S. legal professional Martin Estrada informed a packed information convention.
The FBI’s drug case is constructed round a snitch who, for 2 years, secretly labored with two networks that prosecutors say had been aggressively hauling cocaine and methamphetamine alongside the dominant drug route — from Mexico, into the US, after which additional north, into Canada.
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Sidhu, a bald man with a salt and pepper moustache and goatee, was a kind of arrested that day. His arrest in Ontario was on the request of the US, made below the Canada-United States extradition treaty.
His title sat atop considered one of two indictments unsealed in courtroom in California, wherein U.S. prosecutors allege that whereas one drug ring involving Scoppa and three males primarily based in Mexico fed Quebec, Sidhu ran a second feeding Ontario.
Medication seized throughout Operation Deceased Hand in Los Angeles. Photograph by Handout
Sidhu, prosecutors declare, organized for business transport truck drivers to cover medication of their official a great deal of cargo and drive them into Canada, variously by Detroit-Windsor, the Peace Bridge in Niagara, and the Blue Water Bridge connecting Michigan to Sarnia.
Sidhu remained in custody in Canada because the extradition course of continued in a Brampton courthouse.
In June, nonetheless, Jennifer Woollcombe, a choose with the Ontario Superior Court docket of Justice, made Sidhu’s courtroom file secret, signing a courtroom order that “all of its contents be placed in a packet and sealed by the Registrar of this Court and that packet shall be kept in the custody of this Court … in a secure place to which the public has no access and shall not be disclosed.”
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The sealing order prevents the general public from realizing why the order was imposed and what data it was defending.
The secrecy most likely pertains to data on the id of the snitch, a key cooperating witness who labored with the FBI by two years of the probe. That cooperator allowed investigators to immediately monitor the interior machinations of networks furtively shifting medication from Mexico to Los Angeles and from LA to Ontario and Quebec.
Sidhu appeared to have as soon as been near the snitch.
Earlier than beginning work for the FBI, the snitch was arrested in the US after a stash of medicine was discovered within the truck he was driving. In return for charges disappearing and guarantees of immigration advantages, he agreed to turn out to be a cooperating witness, often known as a “CW” in U.S. authorized paperwork, in line with an FBI warrant software obtained by Ontario Chronicle.
U.S. authorized paperwork allege the snitch is a former worker of Sidhu’s.
“The CW is expected to testify that, prior to becoming a cooperating witness, the CW worked for Sidhu by transporting and exporting drugs to Canada on Sidhu’s behalf. The CW was familiar with Sidhu, met Sidhu in person, spoke to Sidhu on the phone, and communicated with Sidhu on WhatsApp,” in line with a abstract of the prosecution’s case used to persuade Canada to ship Sidhu and one other Canadian south to face trial.
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FBI use a closely armed group for arrests and searches in Operation Deceased Hand. Photograph by FBI
The U.S. abstract of its case alleges that Sidhu labored with others, together with six American residents and one Canadian, Ivan Gravel Gonzalez, 33, of Trois-Rivières, Que.
Prosecutors say that brokers with the FBI, officers with the Los Angeles Police Division, and officers with the RCMP are anticipated to testify to 3 particular shipments “orchestrated by Sidhu”: 200 kilograms of methamphetamine in September 2022; and two shipments in October 2022, considered one of 100 kilograms of cocaine, and the opposite 194 kilograms of meth.
The doc alleges Gonzalez helped with the final load and {that a} subsequent search of the place he was staying in California uncovered portions of cocaine and fentanyl.
U.S. authorities alleged that the cargo of cocaine was tracked because it was pushed throughout the US and over the border into Canada and that Sidhu was below surveillance by the RCMP as bins had been moved between autos.
“On July 10, 2024, Mr. Sidhu consented to his surrender to the United States,” Kwame Bonsu, a spokesperson for the Division of Justice Canada informed Ontario Chronicle. “On Oct. 2, 2024, the Minister of Justice ordered Mr. Sidhu’s surrender to the United States. I can confirm that Mr. Sidhu was extradited to the United States on Oct. 30, 2024.”
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On Halloween, Sidhu was led right into a Los Angeles courtroom for his arraignment, which is a primary look launching a prosecution.
In lower than 20 minutes he informed the choose that Guramrit Sidhu is his actual title, was learn the fees towards him, consulted briefly with a authorities appointed lawyer, and pleaded not responsible to all counts, together with conspiracy to distribute medication, conspiracy to export medication, and fascinating in a unbroken legal enterprise.
He was ordered held in detention pending trial, on the request of federal prosecutors. The choose was glad there was no different option to guarantee he wouldn’t flee, citing a probably lengthy jail sentence, his historical past of drug abuse, and connections outdoors the US.
The choose additionally ordered authorities to supply Sidhu with medical therapy, together with two drugs: Suboxone, usually used to deal with opioid habit, and Seroquel, an antipsychotic.
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Sidhu is scheduled to face trial in September.
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Sidhu’s lawyer in the US didn’t reply to requests for remark previous to deadline. Leo Adler, Sidhu’s lawyer in Canada, declined to touch upon the case. Gonzalez’s extradition stays earlier than the courtroom in Montreal. His final recognized lawyer couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
All courtroom paperwork define allegations that haven’t but been confirmed in courtroom.
In the meantime, a truck driver who moved from Calgary to Brampton and was additionally arrested in Operation Deceased Hand, is the primary of the 19 accused folks to be sentenced within the Los Angeles prosecutions.
Ayush Sharma, 25, an Indian nationwide, was on a piece allow in Canada when caught red-handed delivering 19 kilos of cocaine and heroin to a storage in Montreal. He was extradicted to the US in March and pleaded responsible to a cost of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute medication.
Sharma was sentenced on Jan. 24 to 30 months in a U.S. jail.
Operation Deceased Hand seized 951 kilograms of cocaine, 845 kilograms of meth, 20 kilograms of fentanyl and 4 kilograms of heroin, in line with U.S. authorities.
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