Ontario man named boss of drug smuggling ring slipped into U.S. court

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Behind a veil of secrecy, an Ontario man named as the boss of a network of truck drivers smuggling large loads of cocaine and meth from California into Canada has given up his fight against extradition and surrendered to U.S. authorities.

Guramrit Sidhu, 61, of Brampton, west of Toronto, allegedly also known as “King,” was arrested a year ago in Ontario at the request of the United States, where he is accused of orchestrating a large-volume drug trafficking network. On Halloween, U.S. Marshalls brought Sidhu into a Los Angeles courtroom for the first time.

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In between those milestones, Sidhu’s case in Ontario was deemed so sensitive his entire file was sealed by a court order.

Nevertheless, here’s what happened.

When Operation Dead Hand was announced in Los Angeles on Jan. 30, 2024, Sidhu and some of the other Canadians swept up in the drama were overshadowed by big allegations and better-known names.

In the United States, there were wanted fugitives linked to Mexican drug cartels and distracting mountains of cocaine surrounding the podium at the press conference; in Canada, there was a man with a notorious last name: Roberto Scoppa, brother of two leaders in a faction of the Montreal Mafia who were killed in 2019 during a mob war.

“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. attorney Martin Estrada told a packed news conference.

The FBI’s drug case is built around a snitch who, for two years, secretly worked with two networks that prosecutors say were aggressively hauling cocaine and methamphetamine along the dominant drug route — from Mexico, into the United States, and then further north, into Canada.

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Sidhu, a bald man with a salt and pepper moustache and goatee, was one of those arrested that day. His arrest in Ontario was at the request of the United States, made under the Canada-United States extradition treaty.

His name sat atop one of two indictments unsealed in court in California, in which U.S. prosecutors allege that while one drug ring involving Scoppa and three men based in Mexico fed Quebec, Sidhu ran a second feeding Ontario.

Sidhu, prosecutors claim, arranged for commercial transport truck drivers to hide drugs in their legitimate loads of cargo and drive them into Canada, variously using the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, the Peace Bridge in Niagara, and the Blue Water Bridge connecting Michigan to Sarnia.

Sidhu remained in custody in Canada as the extradition process continued in a Brampton courthouse.

In June, however, Jennifer Woollcombe, a judge with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, made Sidhu’s court file secret, signing a court 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 public from knowing why the order was imposed and what information it was protecting.

The secrecy probably relates to information on the identity of the snitch, a key cooperating witness who worked with the FBI through two years of the probe. That cooperator allowed investigators to directly monitor the internal machinations of networks furtively moving drugs from Mexico to Los Angeles and from LA to Ontario and Quebec.

Sidhu seemed to have once been close to the snitch.

Before starting work for the FBI, the snitch was arrested in the United States after a stash of drugs was found in the truck he was driving. In return for charges disappearing and promises of immigration benefits, he agreed to become a cooperating witness, known as a “CW” in U.S. legal documents, according to an FBI warrant application obtained by National Post.

U.S. legal documents allege the snitch is a former employee 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,” according to a summary of the prosecution’s case used to convince Canada to send Sidhu and another Canadian south to face trial.

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The U.S. summary of its case alleges that Sidhu worked with others, including six American residents and one Canadian, Ivan Gravel Gonzalez, 33, of Trois-Rivières, Que.

Prosecutors say that agents with the FBI, officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, and officers with the RCMP are expected to testify to three specific shipments “orchestrated by Sidhu”: 200 kilograms of methamphetamine in September 2022; and two shipments in October 2022, one of 100 kilograms of cocaine, and the other 194 kilograms of meth.

The document alleges Gonzalez helped with the last load and that a subsequent search of where he was staying in California uncovered quantities of cocaine and fentanyl.

U.S. authorities alleged that the shipment of cocaine was tracked as it was driven across the United States and over the border into Canada and that Sidhu was under surveillance by the RCMP as boxes were moved between vehicles.

“On July 10, 2024, Mr. Sidhu consented to his surrender to the United States,” Kwame Bonsu, a spokesperson for the Department of Justice Canada told National Post. “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 into a Los Angeles courtroom for his arraignment, which is a first appearance launching a prosecution.

In less than 20 minutes he told the judge that Guramrit Sidhu is his real name, was read the charges against him, consulted briefly with a government appointed lawyer, and pleaded not guilty to all counts, including conspiracy to distribute drugs, conspiracy to export drugs, and engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise.

He was ordered held in detention pending trial, at the request of federal prosecutors. The judge was satisfied there no other way to assure he wouldn’t flee, citing a potentially long prison sentence, his history of drug abuse, and connections outside the United States.

The judge also ordered authorities to provide Sidhu with medical treatment, including two medications: Suboxone, typically used to treat opioid addiction, and Seroquel, an antipsychotic.

Sidhu is scheduled to face trial in September.

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Sidhu’s lawyer in the United States did not respond to requests for comment prior to deadline. Leo Adler, Sidhu’s lawyer in Canada, declined to comment on the case. Gonzalez’s extradition remains before the court in Montreal. His last known lawyer could not immediately be reached for comment.

All court documents outline allegations that have not yet been proven in court.

Meanwhile, a truck driver living in Calgary who was also arrested in Operation Dead Hand, is the first of the 19 accused to be sentenced in the Los Angeles prosecutions.

Ayush Sharma, 25, an Indian national who was on a work permit in Canada when caught red-handed delivering 19 kilos of cocaine and heroin to a garage in Montreal. He was transferred to the United States in March and pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiring to distribute and possess with intent to distribute drugs.

Sharma was sentenced on Jan. 24 to 30 months in a U.S. prison.

Operation Dead Hand seized 951 kilograms of cocaine, 845 kilograms of meth, 20 kilograms of fentanyl and four kilograms of heroin, according to U.S. authorities.

• Email: ahumphreys@postmedia.com | X: AD_Humphreys

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