By: Ebenezer Adu-Gyamfi | Accra, Ghana for GhanaianNewsCanada 24/1/2026
Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who was among the FBI’s most-wanted fugitives, has been arrested on multiple charges of drug trafficking and murder, authorities announced on Friday.
After more than a decade on the run, a handcuffed Mr. Wedding was led off a government airplane by U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation agents after landing in California, video footage released by the FBI showed. He wore a ballcap, black puffy vest, grey shirt, jeans and sneakers.
FBI Director Kash Patel called Mr. Wedding’s arrest an “historic achievement” made possible by law enforcement partnerships across multiple countries.
“Just 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,” Mr. Patel told reporters at a news conference in Ontario, Calif. “He is a modern-day El Chapo. He is a modern-day Pablo Escobar. And he thought he could evade justice.”
Mr. Wedding was arrested on Thursday night in Mexico City, while Mr. Patel was in town for meetings with Mexican officials.
Mr. Patel declined to describe the circumstances of Mr. Wedding’s capture but said U.S. authorities were helped by their Mexican counterparts.
A statement from the Mexican government said a Canadian citizen had “voluntarily” turned himself in at the U.S. embassy in Mexico on Thursday.
Mr. Wedding was flown to the U.S. on Friday morning, along with Mr. Patel. After landing at Ontario International Airport near Los Angeles, Mr. Wedding was taken to a holding cell where he will remain over the weekend before a court appearance on Monday.
Mr. Wedding is accused of leading a violent, international cocaine smuggling ring. He was on the FBI’s 10-most-wanted list and authorities offered a US$15-million reward for information. His aliases included “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy” and “James Conrad Kin.”
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, who also attended the press conference on Friday, called Mr. Wedding’s arrest a “special occasion” and said no agency or country could combat transnational organized crime alone. “We can proudly say that our communities and our countries are much safer with the arrest of Ryan Wedding,” he said.
Authorities at the news conference said Mr. Wedding, working with Mexico’s Sinaloa drug cartel, had trafficked 60 tonnes of cocaine from Mexico, through Southern California to Canada, and orchestrated the murders of multiple people, including witnesses.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said that police have seized 2,300 kilograms of cocaine, plus 44 kilograms each of methamphetamine and fentanyl, eight firearms and more than US$55 million in illicit assets.
“Together, we have disrupted a major narcotics pipeline impacting Los Angeles, the United States and Canada. This is a significant blow to a criminal network that has endangered communities across borders,” he said.
Akil Davis, the head of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, said the seized assets to date include a Mercedes Benz, motorcycles and “valuable artwork and jewellery.” He said 36 people have so far been arrested for being part of Mr. Wedding’s alleged criminal network. He said there are still suspects who have not yet been arrested.
“Ryan Wedding tormented several people and several families that will never be the same. Today, they got the justice that they sought,” Mr. Davis said.
Mr. Wedding was flown to California on the same plane used to transport Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to the U.S. after his capture earlier this month, according to images of the aircraft’s tail number. The Boeing 757 is registered to the U.S. Department of Justice.
The FBI released a new photo of Mr. Wedding last month and said it was believed to have been taken over the summer in Mexico.
Since July, 2023, the RCMP and the FBI have been collaborating on a probe known as Operation Giant Slalom. The U.S.-led collaboration was initiated when the FBI asked the RCMP for assistance, according to court-filed documents. That October, the Mounties launched their parallel investigation.
Who is Ryan Wedding, the former Canadian Olympic snowboarder on the FBI’s Most Wanted list?
Since then, about 30 individuals have been arrested or are being sought under U.S. laws in connection with the investigation, according to indictments filed in California. At least 12 accused have been arrested by police in Canada. Most of them are now fighting extradition.
Mr. Wedding was believed to be sheltered in Mexico by the Sinaloa cartel. He faces multiple murder conspiracy charges in the U.S. for allegedly ordering the killing of people in Canada and elsewhere whom he came to see as liabilities.
He was charged in 2024 with running a drug ring that used semi-trucks to move cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.
In November, U.S. Attorney-General Pam Bondi announced that Mr. Wedding had also been indicted on charges of orchestrating the killing of a witness in Colombia to help him avoid extradition to the U.S.
Authorities said Mr. Wedding and co-conspirators used a Canadian website called “The Dirty News” to post a photograph of the witness so he could be identified and killed. The witness was then followed to a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia, in January and shot in the head.
Who are the Canadians facing charges connected to Ryan Wedding?
Born in Thunder Bay, where his grandparents owned a ski hill, Mr. Wedding moved to British Columbia at age 12, a few years before joining Team Canada. After news broke of his arrest on Friday, two of his family members, who live in Vancouver’s eastern suburbs, declined to comment.
Mr. Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015, according to the RCMP.
He was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. He was deported to Canada in 2011.
Toronto-area lawyer Deepak Paradkar and jeweller Rolan Sokolovski are among Mr. Wedding’s alleged associates who were arrested in Canada late last year.
Mr. Paradkar was arrested in the Toronto area in November to face an extradition bid by the United States on charges of murder conspiracy. He was released on bail in December. Mr. Sokolovski, who was arrested in Toronto in November and faces U.S. charges of laundering money, is expected to learn if he will be released on bail on Feb. 20.
None of the allegations against Mr. Sokolovski or Mr. Paradkar have been proven in court.
