Rakhim Ibragimov sentenced to 68 months in U.S. prison for cocaine smuggling plot

Rakhim Ibragimov, a Toronto-area man born in Uzbekistan and known to associates as "the Russian" or "George," was sentenced Wednesday to 68 months in U.S. federal prison for intending to distribute 375 kilograms of cocaine destined for Canada.

U.S. authorities arrested Ibragimov in April 2024 after he traveled from Canada to California to oversee a drug shipment. He was detained and subsequently allowed to return to Ontario before Toronto police arrested him again in October 2024. Ibragimov spent approximately one year at Toronto South Detention Centre before agreeing to extradition.

Judge Sherilyn Peace Garnett handed down the sentence Wednesday in California's central district federal court. The sentence includes three years of supervised release with conditions that include periodic drug testing and substance abuse counseling.

Ibragimov's plea agreement, filed in June, identified him as part of a broader drug-trafficking conspiracy. His name appears in an indictment document that includes Ryan Wedding—the high-profile Toronto trafficker who was arrested earlier this year after a decade on the run—and more than a dozen other alleged co-conspirators. U.S. authorities moved against those co-conspirators in Canada, the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia, charging them with drug trafficking to murder.

Ibragimov's plea deal made no mention of Wedding directly. His defence lawyer, Humberto Diaz, had requested a reduced sentence based on time already served at Toronto South Detention Centre, arguing Ibragimov played a "mitigating role" in the offence. The court did not grant the reduction.