Former Canadian Olympian Ryan Wedding arrested in Mexico after years on the run

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding has been arrested after evading authorities for years, U.S. officials confirmed on Friday.

Wedding, 44, was wanted for allegedly running a vast transnational drug‑trafficking organization that investigators say moved staggering quantities of cocaine across the U.S.–Mexico border. American officials have accused him of overseeing a pipeline capable of importing roughly 60 metric tons of cocaine per year into the Los Angeles area using semitrucks operating out of Mexico.

The FBI had elevated Wedding to its Ten Most Wanted list in March, placing a $15‑million reward on information leading to his arrest or prosecution — one of the highest bounties ever offered for a fugitive with Canadian ties.

FBI Director Kash Patel publicly compared Wedding to notorious cartel leaders such as Pablo Escobar and Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, citing both the volume of drugs allegedly moved and the violence associated with the organization.

Patel said Wedding was being transported to the U.S. after being apprehended Thursday night in Mexico, where U.S. authorities believe the former Olympian been hiding for more than a decade.

Officials declined to give details of the arrest, citing the ongoing investigation, but said Wedding was in custody and would make his first appearance in court on Monday.

Video footage released by the FBI shows Wedding — dressed in light jeans, a grey long-sleeved shirt and black quilted vest and ball cap — stepping off a plane with his hands cuffed in front of him, amid a cluster of FBI agents. He remained expressionless as he was led down the steps and onto the tarmac.

U.S. authorities said they are still seeking others for their alleged role in the criminal enterprise.

Patel held meetings in Mexico on Thursday and left Friday with two detainees, Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch wrote on X. He said the two detainees were a Canadian citizen who turned himself in at the U.S. embassy, as well as someone else who was among the FBI’s most-wanted and had been detained by Mexican authorities.

A member of Mexico’s Security Cabinet, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, told The Associated Press that Wedding was the Canadian citizen who turned himself in.

“This is a huge day for a safer North America, and the world, and a message that those who break our laws and harm our citizens will be brought to justice,” Patel said.

In raids carried out in Mexico City and the surrounding state of Mexico, U.S. authorities seized dozens of high-end motorcycles believed to belong to Wedding, valued at an estimated US$40 million.

Other items seized included two vehicles, artwork and what Mexican authorities described as two Olympic medals.

“When you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front, and that’s what you’re seeing here,” Patel said on Friday.

“This individual and his organization in the Sinaloa Cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America and killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens,” Patel said.

“And that ends today.”

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme called it a “great day for public safety in Canada,” while applauding the collaborative efforts of both agencies in the search for Wedding.

“The capture of Ryan Wedding after a years-long investigation, and this most recent achievement, demonstrates the importance of international collaboration and the success that can be achieved when law enforcement shares intelligence,” he said. “Our work in disrupting organized crime continues. Organized crime transcends borders and continually adapts. International partnerships remain critical.”

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree said Ottawa welcomes Wedding’s arrest as a “significant step forward in our efforts to protect communities from the devastating harms of organized crime and illicit drugs.”

“Major drug cartels are enemies of public safety, and that is why the government of Canada designated seven cartels as terrorist organizations last year, including the Sinaloa Cartel that had been offering protection to Ryan Wedding,” he said in a social media post.

Wedding’s alleged trafficking operation rivalled major cartels

Wedding represented Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. After his athletic career ended, investigators say he turned to organized crime, building a narcotics empire that Bondi has described as “one of the most prolific and violent drug-trafficking organizations in this world.”

New indictments announced in November accuse Wedding of ordering the murder of a federal witness, who was shot five times in the head before he could testify against him. Among the seven people arrested in Canada was Wedding’s attorney, Deepak Paradkar, who allegedly advised him to have the witness killed.

Authorities said Wedding and co-conspirators used a Canadian website called “The Dirty News” to post a photograph of the witness so he could be identified and killed. The witness was then followed to a restaurant in Medellín in January and shot in the head.

According to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015.

Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show.

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With files from The Associated Press