A Toronto man investigated for potential involvement in a murder plot targeting a senior jail officer — and facing extradition to the U.S. on drug conspiracy charges linked to alleged cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding — has far-reaching criminal ties and is believed to have killed people, according to the RCMP.
Newly unsealed court documents provide fresh insight into the purported underworld connections of Gurpreet Singh, an accused cocaine smuggler whose name also appears in files stemming from a high-profile Toronto police corruption probe.
The documents contain unproven allegations submitted to a Quebec judge in 2024 as the RCMP sought authorizations for wiretaps and to surreptitiously record a meeting in February of that year involving Singh, his uncle, Hardeep Ratte, and a Montreal-born FBI informant who was later shot dead in Colombia.
Signed by RCMP Corp. Jonathan Hachey, the application alleges Singh is involved in “numerous” criminal activities, “knows all the major drug traffickers/transporters in Ontario and works with many groups,” including an unnamed “U.K. person … who is a very big player in the drug-smuggling business.”
Singh is also believed to have carried out killings himself, Hachey added.
Singh’s lawyer, Brian Greenspan, said in an email to CBC News on Thursday that his client is not facing criminal charges in Canada, despite untested allegations made public in search warrant documents.
“Mr. Singh has not been charged with any offence arising from the search, months after the execution of the warrants.”
Singh, 32, and Ratte were both arrested in the Toronto area in October 2024 as the U.S. Department of Justice unsealed an indictment in California targeting Wedding’s purported transnational criminal network. Singh and his uncle were both charged with a drug-trafficking conspiracy.
Both men remain detained in a Toronto jail as U.S. prosecutors demand they be sent to Los Angeles to stand trial.
An Ontario Superior Court justice ordered the unsealing this month of the partially redacted documents, following a request from Singh and Ratte’s legal teams for further disclosure in an effort to fight their extradition case.
Wedding, a former Team Canada Olympic snowboarder, is accused of leading a murderous criminal enterprise that smuggled 60 tonnes of cocaine per year across North America.
The indictment alleges Singh and Ratte co-ordinated drug shipments to Canada for a “flat rate” of $220,000 Cdn per transport truck load.
According to the newly unsealed documents from early 2024, investigators hadn’t yet identified Ratte and only referred to him as Singh’s associate known as “uncle.”
The planned February 2024 meeting with the FBI informant — Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia — was ultimately held at a Brampton, Ont., auto body shop, according to U.S. prosecutors.
Unbeknownst to Singh and Ratte, the Canadian Colombian drug trafficker was wearing a recording device provided by the Mounties, as he discussed with them plans to move truck loads of cocaine on behalf of Wedding’s network.
Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan said in his decision this month that Singh and Ratte’s defence teams should be given a copy of the video recording, but he declined to release the file publicly.
Connections from Mexico to Dubai
The list of accusations surrounding the Brampton-born Singh previously reported by CBC News — as laid out by U.S. and Canadian authorities after his arrest — read like a crime novel, tying together a violent Mexican drug cartel, a European crime syndicate and York Regional Police’s sweeping Project South investigation into corruption and organized crime.
Search warrant documents from the Toronto-area corruption probe recently revealed how investigators looked into whether Singh and a personal acquaintance — a jail guard — were involved in an apparent assassination plot targeting a senior official at the jail where Singh is being held. The alleged murder attempt last year set off the sweeping investigation.
Neither the female acquaintance nor Singh have been charged in connection with Project South.
Two days after CBC News first reported on Singh’s apparent ties to a central figure in the Project South case, Singh was moved to a special handling unit of the facility, the Toronto South Detention Centre.
Singh, who went by the aliases Popey and Farmer, was previously held under much different circumstances.
According to Ontario Superior Court records, Singh reported being kidnapped “and tied up” by Mexican cartel members while on a visit to Sinaloa state in August 2024 — purportedly over a $600,000 drug debt. Wedding claimed he had to personally intervene to ensure Singh’s release.
The newly unsealed court documents say earlier that year, a confidential informant for the FBI said Singh was under “a lot of pressure ‘from Mexicans’ to pay off his outstanding debts for cocaine loads they gave him in 2023.”
When Singh asked to be released on bail early last year, U.S. prosecutors warned in a letter filed in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice that he “presents a substantial risk of flight.”
He was involved in a scheme to ship stolen high-end cars through the Port of Montreal to Dubai, the L.A.-based prosecutors said. They alleged Singh has “extensive organized crime connection within Dubai,” including with members of the Kinahan organized crime group.
Founded in Ireland, the prominent criminal syndicate has been linked to drug-trafficking across Europe, arms sales, money laundering and murders.
“Singh’s criminal conduct,” assistant U.S. attorneys Maria Jhai and Lyndsi Allsop wrote, “makes him a danger to the community.”
