Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding was arrested in Mexico on Friday after turning himself in at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City, officials said. Wedding, 44, is accused of leading a multinational drug trafficking operation that moved approximately 60 tons of cocaine from Latin America into the United States annually and orchestrating several killings.
Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since March 2025. The agency had offered a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
Wedding’s arrest marks a significant international law enforcement operation involving authorities from the United States, Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic. His capture reflects ongoing efforts by U.S. and allied law enforcement to dismantle major drug trafficking organizations supplying cocaine to North American markets.
U.S. authorities arrested former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding in Mexico on Friday after more than a decade in hiding. Wedding turned himself in at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City on Thursday and was flown to California, according to the FBI.
Wedding, 44, is accused of running a multinational cocaine trafficking operation that authorities estimate moved approximately 60 tons of the drug from Latin America into the United States annually. Federal prosecutors allege he orchestrated multiple killings and operated under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations.
FBI Director Kash Patel compared Wedding to former Sinaloa cartel leader Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is imprisoned in the U.S. after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges. “He’s the modern-day El Chapo,” Patel said at a news conference in California.
The arrest resulted from an international law enforcement operation. U.S., Mexican, Canadian, Colombian, and Dominican authorities coordinated efforts for more than a year. Mexico’s Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch confirmed on social media that a Canadian citizen had surrendered at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. FBI Director Patel praised the coordination. “When you go after a guy like Ryan Wedding, it takes a united front,” he said.
The Criminal Enterprise
Wedding previously was convicted in 2010 of conspiracy to distribute cocaine. He now faces new federal charges including running a multinational drug trafficking enterprise, murder of a federal witness, and three additional murders.
An indictment filed in 2024 alleges Wedding ran a billion-dollar cocaine trafficking organization that served as Canada’s largest cocaine supplier. The organization obtained cocaine from Colombia, worked with Mexican drug cartels to transport it by boat and plane into Mexico, and then moved the drugs into the U.S. using semitrucks. The operation stored cocaine in Southern California before distributing it to Canada and other U.S. states.
Wedding competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He had been on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list since March 2025, with the agency offering a $15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction. U.S. authorities believe Wedding spent more than a decade hiding in Mexico before his capture. Thirty-six people have been arrested in connection with the drug ring, with law enforcement seizing large volumes of drugs, weapons, and cash, along with millions of dollars in automobiles, motorcycles, artwork, and jewelry.
Violence and Murder Charges
Prosecutors allege Wedding directed the 2023 killings of two Canadian family members in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment. He also faces accusations of ordering a killing over a drug debt in 2024.
Wedding was indicted in November on additional charges of orchestrating the 2026 killing of a witness in Colombia to prevent his extradition to the United States. According to the indictment, Wedding and co-conspirators used a Canadian website called “The Dirty News” to post the witness’s photograph so he could be identified and killed. The witness was later followed to a restaurant in Medellín in January and shot in the head.
Wedding is expected to appear in federal court on Monday. Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Gary Anandasangaree called the arrest “a significant step forward” in the international fight against illegal drugs. Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada dating to 2015.
Federal authorities also arrested Alejandro Rosales Castillo, a 27-year-old U.S. citizen, a week earlier in Mexico on charges of murder in the 2016 killing of a North Carolina woman. Castillo also faces a federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution.
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