{"id":428680,"date":"2026-01-23T19:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428680\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T19:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T19:46:11","slug":"ryan-wedding-arrested-olympian-turned-alleged-drug-lord-captured","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/428680\/","title":{"rendered":"Ryan Wedding arrested: Olympian-turned-alleged drug lord captured"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Wedding<\/a>, a Canadian Olympian-turned-alleged cocaine kingpin, has been arrested, U.S. authorities say.<\/p>\n

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FBI Director Kash Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the 44-year-old\u2019s arrest in separate X posts Friday.<\/p>\n

Wedding, a Thunder Bay, Ont., native, is allegedly the kingpin of a drug empire that traffics 60 metric tons of cocaine across the Americas per year for US$1 billion in illegal proceeds.<\/p>\n

Wedding, a snowboarder who was living in Coquitlam, B.C., when he suited up for his country at the 2002 Salt Lake City Games, was added to the FBI\u2019s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The FBI has said Wedding, who has been reportedly living in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, may have been changing his appearance and hair colour to avoid capture. A US$15-million bounty was issued by the U.S. State Department for information that led to his arrest or conviction.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRyan Wedding: How an Olympic athlete became an alleged drug lord\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Patel told reporters Wedding was taken into custody in Mexico City Thursday night. Patel wouldn\u2019t get into details, citing \u201coperational sensitivities.\u201d Wedding\u00a0has since been transported to the United States.<\/p>\n

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\u201cJust to tell you how bad of a guy Ryan Wedding is: he went from an Olympic snowboarder to the largest narco-trafficker in modern times,\u201d Patel alleged in a news conference in Ontario, Calif.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a modern-day El Chapo, he is a modern-day Pablo Escobar and he thought he could evade justice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thanks to President Trump\u2019s leadership and commitment to global law enforcement \u2013 as of this morning, the DOJ\/FBI officially apprehended our SIXTH Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive within the last year. Thank you to @AGPamBondi<\/a> for her relentless pursuit of justice, the US Attorney\u2019s\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/fnSP4IXQRI<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 FBI Director Kash Patel (@FBIDirectorKash) January 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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He is facing several murder and drug charges. In November, Wedding was accused of ordering the murder of a federal witness before he could testify against him and Andrew Clark, his reported second-in-command.<\/p>\n

That witness was eventually shot dead at a restaurant in Medell\u00edn, Colombia, on Jan. 31.<\/p>\n

Seven other Canadians reportedly connected to that slaying were arrested and charged. Among them was Wedding\u2019s alleged lawyer, Deepak Paradkar, who American officials allege advised him to have the witness killed. An Ontario judge approved his bail release in December<\/a> ahead of his extradition.<\/p>\n

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Wedding and another Canadian citizen, who was arrested by Mexican authorities last fall, are accused of directing the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Caledon, Ont., in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.<\/p>\n

Ontario Provincial Police have said the family was \u201ccompletely innocent\u201d and mistakenly targeted.<\/p>\n

At my direction, Department of Justice agents @FBI<\/a> have apprehended yet another member of the FBI\u2019s Top Ten Most Wanted List: Ryan Wedding, the onetime Olympian snowboarder-turned alleged violent cocaine kingpin.<\/p>\n

Wedding was flown to the United States where he will face justice.\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2014 Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) January 23, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

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Wedding faces separate \u201cunresolved\u201d drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, the RCMP said last October.<\/p>\n

He was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. U.S. authorities believe that after Wedding\u2019s release, he resumed drug trafficking and has been protected by the Sinaloa Cartel.<\/p>\n

To date, 36 people reportedly tied to Wedding\u2019s operation have been arrested and charged, and several remain wanted.<\/p>\n

RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme told reporters no agency or nation can combat transnational organized crime alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to thank \u2026 all the U.S. and Canadian law enforcement that took part in this. They\u2019ve spent countless hours and many sacrifices to lead us to where we\u2019re at today,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can finally say that our communities, our countries, are much safer with the arrest of Ryan Wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

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