A current record-setting $50-million cocaine seizure by police within the Toronto space could also be linked to former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged crime boss Ryan Marriage ceremony, a CBC Information investigation has discovered.
Peel Regional Police stated final week the cocaine bust – the most important such seizure within the company’s historical past – got here after investigators found a legal community exploiting industrial trucking routes to maneuver medication throughout the U.S. border into Canada.
The smuggling routes outlined by police mirror people who U.S. prosecutors have linked to the murderous drug ring allegedly led by Marriage ceremony, one of many FBI’s 10 most wished fugitives. The community is accused of routinely delivery tons of Colombian cocaine from Mexico to U.S. and Canadian locations.
“The chance of what is taking place right here in Peel being traced again to a corporation like that could be very excessive,” Peel police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich instructed CBC.
He stated it is “very possible” Marriage ceremony’s community stays lively within the suburban space west of Toronto, a key logistics hub for central Canada.
Peel police Deputy Chief Nick Milinovich stated it is ‘very possible’ Ryan Marriage ceremony’s alleged drug ring stays lively within the space. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press)
Marriage ceremony, who competed for Canada as a snowboarder on the 2002 Olympic Video games in Utah, is believed to be residing in Mexico underneath the safety of the infamous Sinaloa cartel. He was amongst 16 males charged final yr in a U.S. federal indictment that sought to dismantle what U.S. authorities known as the “Marriage ceremony Drug Trafficking Group.”
In response to U.S. prosecutors, Marriage ceremony’s community used semi vans as its major technique of transporting medication throughout North America.
Two males arrested final fall in Toronto are accused of orchestrating cocaine shipments to Canada for a flat price of $220,000 every. Hardeep Ratte and his nephew Gurpreet Singh each stay in custody and face extradition to the U.S.
Marriage ceremony’s prime lieutenant, fellow Canadian Andrew Clark, was arrested in Mexico final yr and later transferred to U.S. custody.
Nonetheless, U.S. prosecutors stated earlier this yr that Marriage ceremony, 43, “continues to site visitors medication whereas in hiding” and warned he nonetheless has entry to a “community of hitmen.”
The RCMP additionally lately confirmed to CBC “components of his community” stay in place in Canada.
Marriage ceremony and Clark face homicide costs tied to 4 deaths in Ontario, together with an “execution-style” taking pictures over a drug debt, and the mistaken-identity killings of a pair visiting from India.
Cocaine seized on the border
In response to Peel police, Canadian border brokers earlier this yr intercepted a mixed 177 kilograms of cocaine hidden in trailers of business vans on the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, and the Blue Water Bridge close to Sarnia. Each spans hyperlink Ontario to Michigan.
Public information from a separate case in U.S. federal court docket in Michigan present Marriage ceremony’s $1-billion US community used the very same scheme.
Two Ontario males – each indicted as members of Marriage ceremony’s drug ring – hid cocaine in hidden truck compartments final August as they tried to cross the Blue Water Bridge towards Canada, in response to the court docket information.
Suspected cocaine is present in a secret compartment in a Canada-bound truck on the Blue Water Bridge, linking Ontario and Michigan. (U.S. District Court docket for the Japanese District of Michigan)
As for the current record-setting drug bust in Peel Area, police stated they seized a complete of 479 kilograms of bricked cocaine, with an estimated avenue worth of $47.9 million, plus two loaded handguns. Police stated the medication have been destined for the Toronto space and different elements of Canada.
9 males have been arrested and charged with a mixed 35 costs associated to firearm and drug offences, police stated.
“This investigation continues to be ongoing on our U.S. companions’ facet, to work again the place the networks originate,” Peel police Chief Nishan Duraiappah stated.
Peel police stated the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and Homeland Safety Investigations are each concerned within the case, dubbed Venture Pelican. Neither company responded to requests for remark.
The seizures come as an “unprecedented” 6,000 kilograms of cocaine have poured into Canada since final fall, in response to Ontario Provincial Police.
WATCH | From Olympian to fugitive: 
Ryan Marriage ceremony’s path from Olympian to most-wanted fugitive
Ryan Marriage ceremony as soon as represented Canada as an Olympic snowboarder; now he’s accused of being a drug kingpin and is on the FBI’s most wished checklist — with a $10 million US reward being supplied for data resulting in his arrest. CBC’s Thomas Daigle traces his surprising path from the highest of the slopes to the underworld.
‘You are subsequent,’ U.S. official says of Marriage ceremony
A senior U.S. official instructed CBC the general public has been offering a gradual stream of tips on Marriage ceremony’s whereabouts, for the reason that State Division started providing a $10-million US reward for data resulting in his arrest or conviction.
F. Cartwright Weiland, who leads the State Division’s Bureau of Worldwide Narcotics and Legislation Enforcement Affairs, stated it appeared as if Marriage ceremony’s connections to Mexican officers have helped him to evade seize.
“Any time that we have gotten shut, he can depend on these individuals watching out for him, to alert him prematurely,” Weiland stated in an interview.
“Ryan, we’re getting ideas each day. Persons are calling in,” Weiland stated, when requested if he has a message for the Thunder Bay, Ont.-born fugitive.
“You are subsequent, buddy.”
When you have a information tip associated to this story, contact CBC Information senior reporter Thomas Daigle by e mail: thomas.daigle@cbc.ca.
