Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, has been arrested in Mexico and is being brought to the United States to face cocaine trafficking and murder charges, FBI chief Kash Patel announced Friday.
Wedding, 44, has been on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, and the US State Department recently offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his capture. Patel, in a post on X, said Wedding — whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy” — was taken into custody in Mexico Thursday night and is being transported to the United States “to face justice.”
“Wedding is believed to have been hiding in Mexico for over a decade — and has been wanted on charges for cocaine trafficking and murder since 2024,” Patel said. “He was allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California to the United States and Canada — as a member of the Sinaloa Cartel,” he added.
Patel has previously described Wedding as a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar,” the notorious Colombian drug lord who died in 1993. Seven people allegedly connected to Wedding’s cocaine smuggling operation were arrested in Canada in November, including his lawyer, and the United States is seeking their extradition.
Wedding competed for Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom.
© 2024 AFP
