Crime

Federal Crown drops charges against Calgary couple caught with nearly 8 kilograms of fentanyl on Saskatchewan highway

SWIFT CURRENT — The Federal Crown has stayed all charges against two Calgary residents who were arrested last year after nearly 8 kilograms — roughly 17.5 pounds — of fentanyl were found hidden in their vehicle during a traffic stop on the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan.

Swati Narula, 27, and Kunwardeep Singh, 29, each faced one count of trafficking a controlled substance and one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking. The Public Prosecution Service of Canada entered written stays of proceedings against Narula on February 24 and against Singh on February 27, Swift Current Online reported Monday.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime, WTF?

Moment wife of Alexander brother collapses on street in tears: Dramatic minute-by-minute account of family’s total meltdown after guilty verdict left them trembling

Blocks away from Manhattan federal court, a distraught fashion model sat on a street corner, wiping tears from her face and gesturing in disbelief as a family friend tried to console her.

Only moments earlier, Shani Zigron had sat in the gallery on Monday evening, watching as a jury sealed the fate of her husband, Alon Alexander, and his two real estate scion brothers, Oren and Tal, convicting them on all counts in a sprawling sex trafficking conspiracy dating back more than a decade.

The once high-flying siblings now face the possibility of life in prison.

The brothers were worse than Epstein.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Belgium at risk of becoming ‘narco-state’, judge warns

International drug crime poses a danger to social stability in Belgium, a senior judge has said, after his colleague warned the country was evolving into “a narco-state” where mafia groups were forming “a parallel force” in society.

Bart Willocx, the president of the Antwerp court of appeal, said Belgium was vulnerable to criminality from drug smuggling through the city’s vast port, one of the main entry points into Europe for cocaine smugglers.

“The amount of money that is involved – to influence people, to corrupt people and to bribe – it is so big that it is really a danger for the stability of our society,” he told the Guardian in an interview at his court.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inBelgium, Crime

Towing industry at the root of many police corruption cases

When organized crime investigators announced the takedown of an auto-theft ring stealing luxury vehicles from Toronto Pearson Airport 25 years ago, one name stuck out on the list of accused.

For years, Toronto Police Constable Andrew Kostorowski had allegedly been doing illegal computer checks for a tow-truck driver and a body shop owner involved with a criminal syndicate. The group, police said, were selling stolen cars and deliberately damaging others to defraud insurance companies. Constable Kostorowski pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit breach of trust in October, 2002.

In the years since, police officers have faced remarkably similar allegations in cities across Canada and the United States: Baltimore. Boston. Buffalo. Chicago. Detroit. New York. Miami. Ottawa. Toronto again – and then, Toronto again.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Ryan Wedding’s Network Linked To Toronto’s Growing Police Corruption Scandal

TORONTO — Brian Da Costa, the central narco-trafficking suspect in an explosive Toronto police corruption case — one that allegedly enlisted serving officers to traffic drugs and to help target a jail official for murder — has been connected to Gurpreet Singh, the Indo-Canadian trucker that U.S. prosecutors describe as a key cross-border smuggler in the billion-dollar cocaine trafficking network of former Olympian turned Sinaloa Cartel heavyweight Ryan Wedding.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Accused in Wedding case linked to Project South police-corruption investigation

A central figure accused in the Project South police corruption probe has been linked in court documents to an alleged accomplice of cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding, connecting for the first time the two sprawling investigations into organized crime in Canada.

Brian Da Costa, an alleged drug trafficker accused of bribing Toronto police officers and leaking computer data later used in organized crime intimidation campaigns, has been ordered not to contact Gurpreet Singh − a Toronto-area man who allegedly conspired to transport hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into Canada for the Wedding network.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Crime

How Canada Birthed a Sinaloa Cartel Boss: A Veteran Mountie With 50 Years of Experience Explains the Unthinkable Rise of Ryan Wedding

OTTAWA — In this episode, former senior Mountie Garry Clement joins Sam Cooper to answer a question that should unsettle every Canadian: how does a figure like Ryan Wedding — an Olympic athlete from Coquitlam — end up becoming one of the most feared Sinaloa Cartel operatives in North America? The answer, Clement argues, has less to do with Wedding himself than with the country that made his rise possible.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Canada's Corrupt Political Class, Crime

HUNTER: Sex torture killer Darren Scott Ray murdered boy, 14. Now, he’s out

Darren Pepin’s mother was happy that Darren Scott Ray got what was coming to him.

A life sentence for the heinous 1986 Toronto sex slaying of Darren, who was just 14. The less charitable among us would suggest the end of a rope would be a more fitting conclusion.

h/t Patti Jo

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime, WTF?

Ontario Privacy Commissioner opens investigation into Project South allegations

The office of Ontario’s Information and Privacy Commissioner is the latest agency to launch an investigation related to the sprawling allegations in the Project South police corruption probe.

In an e-mail on Friday, Privacy Commissioner Patricia Kosseim said her office hasn’t been officially asked by the government to consult on any matters related to Project South, nor has it been notified of any privacy breaches by police.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Nancy Guthrie masked suspect was caught on doorbell camera BEFORE night of abduction

The mysterious masked figure who was seen trying to obscure Nancy Guthrie’s Nest doorbell camera on the night of her abduction is said to have visited the house before.

Federal investigators released eerie footage of the unidentified suspect standing at Guthrie’s front door in the upscale Catalina Foothills neighborhood of Tucson, Arizona in the early morning hours on February 1.

Police have yet to arrest any suspects or produce any concrete leads into the disappearance of the 84-year-old mother of Today Show host Savannah Guthrie.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

The Ryan Wedding case grows: 5 key takeaways from new U.S. evidence against the ex-Olympian and his alleged Ontario associates

U.S. prosecutors have unveiled a new trove of evidence against alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding and several Canadian associates, revealing how, after the assassination of a key federal witness, authorities doubled down on dismantling his drug empire in the lead-up to his arrest last month.

The records were filed in a Canadian court this week as the United States moves to extradite several of Wedding’s co-conspirators, and as those alleged associates continue to face bail hearings.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime

Despite compelling evidence that Canada faces a complex threat spectrum, Canadian policymakers have chosen not to act.

In February 2025, Canada listed seven transnational organized crime groups, primarily Mexican cartels, as terrorist entities, noting “their drug trafficking activities are a risk to national security and must be stopped.” In a follow-up media interview, senior RCMP officers confirmed that all listed groups were active in Canada and “very much involved in crime impacting Canada.”

The move sparked significant debate. Critics argued that terrorism is ideologically motivated, seeking political or social change through fear, whereas organized crime is driven by profit and pragmatism. While cartels use terrorist-like violence, it is typically to protect markets, eliminate rivals, or deter state interference — not to alter political structures. In this view, cartels and terrorists occupy different ends of the threat spectrum.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCanada, Crime

Nancy Guthrie investigation suffers major blow as FBI says glove does NOT match DNA found in home of Savannah’s kidnapped mom

A glove found two miles from Nancy Guthrie’s home has failed to match DNA found inside her property, investigators announced.

Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said Tuesday that the glove offered no new leads as it also failed to match the CODIS criminal database – a national archive of all DNA from arrestees nationwide.

The glove was found on Sunday and had been briefly regarded as the best piece of evidence in the ongoing search for the 84-year-old mother of Today Show star Savannah Guthrie.

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by Blazingcatfur••0•Posted inCrime