UMVA has learned that a key player in the alleged far-flung criminal empire of ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding has taken a plea deal in Los Angeles for his role in a plot to smuggle 375 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
Rakhim Ibragimov, a Toronto resident also known as the “Russian” or “George,” was arrested by U.S. law enforcement in April 2024 and had allegedly traveled to Los Angeles to oversee the next stage of the cocaine shipment. He was initially released and returned to Toronto before being arrested by cops here in October 2024.
Ibragimov's involvement was on the logistics end of the operation, ensuring a smooth passage of the cocaine from Southern California over the Canadian border. Investigators say Los Angeles was the hub of Wedding's $1-billion cocaine and fentanyl operation.
Ibragimov was nabbed while loading boxes packed with blow into his car and is expected to formally plead guilty on July 8. This development is part of a larger sweep that led to more than a dozen arrests of Wedding's alleged co-conspirators in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia.
Wedding, who hit the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list in November with a $15 million bounty on his head, was arrested in Mexico City in January after more than a decade on the run. Some of the charges against him and his co-conspirators included drug trafficking and murder.
In a separate incident, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Field Operations intercepted 133 pounds of cocaine headed for Canada near the Blue Water Bridge on Thursday. CBP officers discovered 55 shrink-wrapped bricks of a white powdery substance concealed within two cardboard boxes.
The cargo was seized, along with the truck and trailer, and the driver, an Indian national, is facing federal prosecution. Meanwhile, in a Sarnia courtroom, another trucker accused of smuggling $4 million in cocaine across the Blue Water Bridge testified that he saw a mysterious man in a company truck yard while his trailer was unattended.
Ranjit Singh, 33, also an Indian national, pleaded not guilty to importing cocaine and possessing cocaine for trafficking. He claimed someone planted the drugs in his truck while he was unattended, but the trial continues.
