FBI Director Kash Patel and other officials announced Wedding\u2019s arrest at a news conference at Ontario International Airport on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\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 said. \u201cHe is a modern-day El Chapo, he is a modern-day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could evade justice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said Wedding\u2019s alleged global drug trafficking organization \u201cused Los Angeles as its primary point of distribution.\u201d<\/p>\n
McDonnell said the efforts of authorities resulted in the seizure of more than 2,300 kilograms of cocaine, 44 kilograms of methamphetamine, 44 kilograms of fentanyl, eight firearms and more than $55 million in illicit assets. <\/p>\n
\u201cTogether, we have disrupted a major narcotics pipeline impacting Los Angeles, the United States and Canada,\u201d McDonnell said. \u201cThis is a significant blow to a criminal network that has endangered communities across borders.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769256796_806_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n
Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding faces federal charges that accuse him of running a drug trafficking organization and ordering the killing of a witness against him. (FBI)<\/p>\n
Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles FBI field office, said Wedding\u2019s alleged organization shipped approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine through Southern California on its way to Canada. <\/p>\n
Authorities have arrested 36 people for their role in the transnational organization and the treasury department has sanctioned 19 people, including Wedding, according to Davis.<\/p>\n
Wedding allegedly became a major trafficker of cocaine into Canada and the United States and a ruthless leader who ordered killings, including one of a witness in a 2024 federal narcotics case<\/a> against him. The order resulted in the victim being shot to death in a restaurant in Medell\u00edn, Colombia, in January 2025, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n \u201cRyan Wedding tormented several people and several families that will never be the same,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBut today they get the justice that they sought.\u201d<\/p>\n Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi previously said Wedding\u2019s operation was responsible for generating more than $1 billion a year in illegal drug proceeds. <\/p>\n A federal indictment against Wedding alleges his organization sourced its cocaine from Colombia, cooking and testing it in \u201ccocaine kitchens\u201d run collaboratively with a Colombian paramilitary group and drug cartel.<\/p>\n The so-called Wedding Criminal Enterprise worked with Mexican cartels, utilizing boats and planes to move drug shipments from Colombia, then using semitrucks to get the loads into the United States, U.S. authorities charged. Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties generally served as the \u201chub\u201d where the organization\u2019s cocaine was stored before being conveyed to final destinations in other parts of the U.S. and in Canada, according to the indictment.<\/p>\n