Canadian Trucker Fights Extradition in U.S. Drug Case

0:00It's April 8th. This is Calgary News Today, your AI-powered local news. A Calgary trucker named Subhom Kumar faces extradition to California on drugs muggling charges tied to a Mexican cartel. The 31-year-old was ordered sent south by a judge last month after a court found enough evidence. Now his lawyer, Curtis Armitage, is pushing hard for Justice Minister Sean Fraser to block it altogether. Armitage is drafting submissions right now, due in May, as Kumar's final shot to stay in Canada. This comes after Kumar and four other Canadians got nabbed by the RCMP in January 2024 on a U.S. warrant. The case stems from a big Los Angeles indictment, hitting 19 people in an organized ring. U.S. officials say Canadian handlers zip down to coordinate massive loads of cocaine and meth, loaded onto semi-trucks headed north. Officials from court docs show Kumar got tapped by an FBI informant to haul 100 kilograms of cocaine from L.A. to Baltimore, a publication bankies most evidence under wraps for now.

1:05Allegations haven't been proven in court yet, so Kumar's team is betting on the minister to shut this down before it escalates. We'll see how Fraser rules as the clock ticks towards summer.