Punjabi-origin crime blogger arrested in international drug kingpin case

Mississauga-based Punjabi-origin crime-blogger Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, has been arrested as part of a US–Canadian crackdown on a drug empire allegedly led by ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan James Wedding.

Bal, co-founder of the “Dirty Newz” website, was one of seven Canadians detained on November 19 in coordinated police raids codenamed “Operation Giant Slalom” - a cross-border sting that officials call “an unprecedented clampdown on transnational narco-terrorism.”

According to Global News and Edmonton City News, “Bal, 31, of Mississauga, Ont., was the operator of a Canadian urban news outlet dubbed ‘the Dirty News'. He was reportedly paid $10,000… not to post about Wedding and Clark, and was instead given a photograph of the witness and was paid to post it so that he could be found and killed, the indictment claims.... On November  5, 2024, Bal reportedly posted a story on Instagram depicting the victim and wrote: ‘This guy single-handedly (rat emoji) out one of the strongest underworld networks that this (earth emoji) has seen. Good chance he’ll never be found again’”.

CityNews adds, “As part of the developments in Operation Giant Slalom, which were announced today, Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, was arrested. Bal was the co-founder and co-operator of ‘The Dirty News,’ a website that law enforcement seized pursuant to a federal warrant”.

Federal authorities quoted in various Canada and US media reports allege Bal’s actions led directly to the murder of the key witness, identified as Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia, who “was shot and killed at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January 2025”.

The indictment further states, “On January 31, 2025, via Instagram, defendant BAL posted a story depicting a photograph of the restaurant and the bottom part of a body lying on the ground, and a caption that read: ‘[Victim A] down…’ and ‘BOOM! Headshot’”.

Authorities announced, “Canadian law enforcement arrested seven people connected to Wedding’s cocaine smuggling operation including his lawyer, Deepak Paradkar…Also arrested in Canada was Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, of Ontario, founder of a website known as ‘The Dirty News’”. The U.S. is now seeking the extradition of Bal and his co-accused to face charges of conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, and drug trafficking in the United States, NBC news reported.

According to Yahoo News, evidence against Bal includes social media posts and encrypted messages seized by the FBI and RCMP; filings note that an undercover RCMP officer contacted Bal in August 2025, as the investigation tightened around the perpetrators. US DOJ documents state that Bal and his alleged associates “face life imprisonment if convicted” and that the FBI has now seized “The Dirty Newz” blog as part of the case.

Ryan Wedding, described by officials as “extremely violent and extremely wealthy,” is still at large and believed to be shielded by Sinaloa Cartel operatives in Mexico. The U.S. State Department has raised the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million.