A Toronto trucker who told a California court that his gambling debts caused him to join a cocaine-smuggling operation has been sentenced to 68 months in prison. Rakhim Ibragimov, 49, pleaded guilty to traveling from Toronto to Los Angeles in 2024 intending to transport 375 kilograms of cocaine back to Canada.
The Defendant Suffered from a Gambling Addiction
According to Ibragimov, he was desperate, trying to deal with more than $300,000 in gambling debts. The Uzbekistan-born man accepted responsibility for his actions and described how gambling addiction slowly destroyed his life. He claimed that before he started gambling, he worked to support his wife and two children and lived as a law-abiding citizen.
Ibragimov allegedly…