{"id":261003,"date":"2026-01-24T04:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261003\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T04:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T04:38:08","slug":"ex-olympic-snowboarder-turned-alleged-drug-kingpin-arrested-in-mexico-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/261003\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin arrested in Mexico \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ryan Wedding, a Canadian<\/a> former \u200dOlympic<\/a> snowboarder suspected of becoming a cocaine smuggling kingpin responsible for multiple drug-related murders, has been arrested and brought to the US<\/a> to face charges, US officials said on Friday.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a press conference at an airport east of Los Angeles<\/a>, FBI director Kash Patel said Wedding was arrested Thursday evening in Mexico City after years on the run.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis individual and his organisation and the Sinaloa Cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America, \u200cand killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens,\u201d Mr Patel said. \u201cThat ends today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Patel described Wedding as the \u201clargest narco-trafficker in modern times\u201d, \u2060akin to notorious drug lords like Joaquin \u201cEl Chapo\u201d Guzman and Pablo Escobar.<\/p>\n

Mr Wedding (44) is on the FBI<\/a>\u2019s most wanted \u200dlist 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.<\/p>\n

The US government had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction. Mr Patel did not disclose whether the \u2060reward would be paid out.<\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Wedding competing for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Photograph: Adam Pretty\/Getty <\/p>\n

Mr Patel said FBI agents in Mexico worked with Mexican law enforcement and the \u2060military to apprehend Mr Wedding, who US officials have \u2060accused of working with Mexico\u2019s Sinaloa Cartel and controlling an operation responsible for generating more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds.<\/p>\n

Mr Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter \u200dOlympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, US, has been charged with overseeing a criminal enterprise and various drug trafficking charges, according to the US department of justice. Mr Wedding was also accused of ordering several drug-related murders, including that of a US federal witness in Colombia in January 2025 before he could testify against him, the department previously said.<\/p>\n

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 \u200cdrug debt, according to the \u200cFBI.<\/p>\n

An FBI spokesperson said Mr Wedding will be held in custody in Los Angeles over the weekend, and will make an initial court appearance in US district court on Monday.<\/p>\n

Akil Davis, director of the FBI\u2019s Los \u200cAngeles field office, said the FBI has arrested 36 people associated with Wedding\u2019s alleged criminal organisation. The agency has also seized drugs, cash, weapons, vehicles, \u2060artwork and jewellery worth millions of dollars as part of the investigation, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are still seeking multiple individuals wanted for their roles in this organisation,\u201d Mr Davis said, citing a $2 million reward for information leading to additional arrests. \u2013 Reuters<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ryan Wedding, a Canadian former \u200dOlympic snowboarder suspected of becoming a cocaine smuggling kingpin responsible for multiple drug-related…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":261004,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[289,285,42,116,2628,43,41542,40,38,41,39,115],"class_list":{"0":"post-261003","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-canada","9":"tag-fbi","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-mexico","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-olympic-games","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories","19":"tag-united-states"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261003\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}