A Canadian man who’s been on the run from Ontario police since 2023 was recently arrested at a gym in Colombia for his alleged involvement in an international weapons trafficking network.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced on Friday that Arif Jhuman was taken into custody in Medellín, more than three years after a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest.
Jhuman, 39, had gone “unlawfully at large” on Jan. 24, 2023, while serving a nearly 12-year sentence for drugs and drug-trafficking offences, according to the OPP. Police said he was previously known to frequent Toronto.
In late 2025, Jhuman was named in an indictment by the U.S. Department of Justice for his role in an alleged international firearm trafficking conspiracy. Prosecutors in Florida charged that Jhuman was among five suspects, including two other Canadians, who trafficked and conspired to traffic more than 100 firearms from Florida into Canada in 2023 and 2024.
The DOJ said at the time that of those firearms, 29 were recovered from Canadian crime scenes, including homicides.
Heavily armed police officers were seen taking Jhuman into custody at what appears to be a gym in a video posted by Medellin Mayor Federico Gutiérrez earlier this week.
In a post translated from Spanish, Gutiérrez said that Jhuman was going by the alias “Gillani,” at the time of his arrest. He said the takedown was a joint operation between Colombia’s narcotics squad, Interpol, and other international agencies.
While it’s unclear how or when Jhuman entered Colombia, Gutiérrez said he likely did so using false documents.
“Medellín is not for criminals,” he wrote.
