Canadian ex-Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin arrested in Mexico, to face US charges

By Ryan Patrick Jones

TORONTO, Jan 23 (Reuters) – Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder suspected of becoming a cocaine smuggling kingpin responsible for multiple drug-related murders, has been arrested and brought to the U.S. to face charges, U.S. officials said on Friday.

Speaking at a press conference at an airport east of Los Angeles, FBI Director Kash Patel said Wedding was arrested Thursday evening in Mexico City after years on the run.

“This individual and his organization and 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. “That ends today.”

Patel described Wedding as the “largest narco-trafficker in modern times,” akin to notorious drug lords like Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman and Pablo Escobar.

Wedding, 44, is on the FBI’s “Top 10 Most Wanted” list for allegedly running a transnational drug trafficking network responsible for transporting hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico to the United States and Canada. The U.S. government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Patel did not disclose whether the reward would be paid out.

ACCUSED OF SINALOA TIES

Patel said FBI agents in Mexico worked with Mexican law enforcement and the military to apprehend Wedding, who U.S. officials have accused of working with Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and controlling an operation responsible for generating more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds. 

Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, has been charged with overseeing a criminal enterprise and various drug trafficking charges, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. 

Wedding was also accused of ordering several drug-related murders, including that of a U.S. federal witness in Colombia in January 2025 before he could testify against him, the Justice Department previously said.

He is also charged with directing the murders of two people in Ontario, Canada, in November 2023 over a stolen drug shipment, and the murder of another person in Canada in May 2024 over a drug debt, according to the FBI.

An FBI spokesperson said Wedding will be held in custody in Los Angeles over the weekend, and will make an initial court appearance in U.S. District Court on Monday.

Akil Davis, director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the FBI has arrested 36 people associated with Wedding’s alleged criminal organization. The agency has also seized drugs, cash, weapons, vehicles, artwork and jewelry worth millions of dollars as part of the investigation, he said.

“We are still seeking multiple individuals wanted for their roles in this organization,” Davis said, citing a $2 million reward for information leading to additional arrests.

(Reporting by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Deepa Babington)