A Surrey businessman, Bakshish Sidhu, who owns a money exchange is wanted in the U.S. for allegedly laundering money for international drug traffickers, including the notorious Sinaloa cartel.
The 36-page indictment named 22 people allegedly involved in a “hawala” form of money laundering back in 2012. Several have been convicted in recent years, including the leader of the conspiracy, Gurkaran Singh Isshpunani, of Ontario. He was sentenced to 18 months.
“Often, a given hawala network consists of many brokers operating in multiple countries around the world in which all brokers are in contact with each other and money movements can occur in a variety of directions from one country to another,” the indictment said. “Drug traffickers in Canada would generate drug proceeds from multi-kilogram and multi-pound sales and distributions of drugs provided by Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa Cartel.”
The Canadian traffickers coordinated money transfers to their counterparts in Mexico by instructing Isshpunani and other hawaladars in Canada to deliver specified amounts of money to couriers in the U.S. who were working on behalf of the cartels, the indictment said.
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