He will become the head of one of Canada’s most influential networks. Ten people have been arrested, including seven in the state of the maple leaf, in an American investigation targeting former Canadian Olympian Ryan Wedding, who is accused of drug trafficking and ordering a murder, judicial authorities in Washington announced on Wednesday.
The reward of 10 million dollars for the capture of Ryan Wedding, 44, who participated in snowboarding competitions during the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City (United States) in 2002, was placed in March on the list of ten most wanted fugitives by the FBI, while increasing to 15 million.
The 10 people arrested on Tuesday, seven in Canada and three in Colombia, are accused of involvement in the murder in January in Medellin (Colombia) of a man whose head was placed on a bounty by Ryan Wedding to prevent him from testifying against him, explained the American Department of Justice in a press release.
“Ryan Wedding is currently Canada’s largest supplier of cocaine. He works closely with the Sinaloa cartel in Mexico, where he is known, Minister Pam Bondi said at a press conference. “His organization is responsible for importing approximately 60 tons of cocaine per year into Los Angeles via tractor-trailer from Mexico,” he added.
Charged with organizing the murder of a witness
Kash Patel, director of the FBI, the American federal police, even described the former athlete as “a modern version of Pablo Escobar or El Chapo Guzman”, the godfathers of the Colombian and Mexican drug trade, respectively murdered by Colombian police in 1993 and imprisoned in the United States since 2017.
Ryan Wedding was charged, along with about ten other people, including a Canadian lawyer and a Dominican reggaeton musician living in Canada, for “organizing the January 2025 murder of a bystander who was shot five times in the head at a restaurant in Colombia,” explained federal prosecutor Bill Essayli. His lawyer, identified as 62-year-old Deepak Paradkar, “told him that if he killed this witness, the trial would be thrown out,” Bill Essayli continued, adding that the United States was seeking the extradition of everyone arrested in Canada.
“Seven people were arrested in Canada in the province of Quebec, in the province of Ontario, and also in Alberta,” and an eighth person is still being sought, as indicated by Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Mike Duheme.
American judicial authorities announced in October 2024 the indictment of 16 people, including Ryan Wedding, for alleged involvement in a network transporting cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and southern California, to other regions of the United States and Canada. His alleged lieutenant, Andrew Clark, a Canadian, was extradited from Mexico to the United States in February.
