U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel presented their case on Wednesday against Ryan Wedding, a former Olympian from Team Canada who allegedly transformed into a prominent global drug kingpin. The press conference took place in Washington, D.C., with the presence of RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme.
Wedding, a reputed Canadian drug lord who participated in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Utah as a snowboarder, is identified as one of the FBI’s top 10 wanted criminals. Bondi disclosed that Wedding faces additional charges from the U.S. Department of Justice, including witness tampering, intimidation, money laundering, and drug trafficking.
According to Bondi, Wedding heads a major and violent drug trafficking syndicate globally. An indictment revealed that Wedding is suspected of plotting the assassination of a federal witness using a defunct website named “The Dirty News” to track down the witness and his spouse.
The victim, identified as Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia by Radio-Canada sources, was fatally shot in a restaurant in Medellin, Colombia, before testifying against Wedding. The U.S. State Department has increased the reward for Wedding’s capture to $15 million US.
Described as a ‘modern-day’ Pablo Escobar, Wedding is accused of smuggling 60 metric tonnes of cocaine annually into Los Angeles via semi-trailer trucks from Mexico. The investigation led to the indictment of over 35 individuals, with the recovery of more than 2,000 kilograms of cocaine, weapons, cryptocurrency worth $3.2 million, and physical assets valued at $13 million.
FBI director Kash Patel likened Wedding to a contemporary version of notorious drug lords Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, urging the public to report any information about the accused. Patel asserted that Wedding devised a drug trafficking and terrorism scheme on a scale not seen in years.
Acknowledging Wedding’s potential attempts to alter his appearance to evade capture, Akil Davis, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles division, cautioned the public to be vigilant. RCMP Commissioner Duheme emphasized the importance of international law enforcement collaboration while emphasizing that more work remains to be done.
Recently, the RCMP and Ontario Provincial Police arrested seven Canadians connected to Wedding’s alleged criminal network. Duheme highlighted Wedding as a significant threat to Canadian public safety, running a criminal enterprise worth over a billion dollars annually.
Among those arrested was Atna Onha, known as Tupac or 2-Pac, from Laval, Que., facing charges related to murder, cocaine trafficking, and potential extradition to the U.S. Additionally, Edwin Basora-Hernandez and Canadian lawyer Deepak Paradkar were apprehended for their involvement in criminal activities tied to Wedding’s empire.
The ongoing efforts by law enforcement aim to dismantle Wedding’s alleged drug trafficking operation, with a focus on arresting all associates involved in the illicit activities. Wedding’s current whereabouts remain unknown, urging the public to assist in identifying and locating him to face justice.