Ryan Wedding arrested: ex-Olympian fugitive on FBI’s ‘most wanted’ list caught in Mexico
Fugitive Canadian snowboarder from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics is linked to cartels and faces murder and drug charges
Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder for Canada who was among the FBI’s top fugitives and faces charges related to multinational drug trafficking and the killing of a federal witness, was arrested on Friday, two people familiar with the matter told Associated Press.
Wedding, 44, is accused of running a drug trafficking operation and officials say he orchestrated several killings to further the drug crimes. He was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list and authorities had offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest and conviction.
Wedding’s arrest was confirmed by two people familiar with the matter who were not authorised to discuss details of the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The arrest is expected to be announced later on Friday at a news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel in California. Wedding was apprehended in Mexico, one official said.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released a new photo of Wedding last month and said it was believed to have been taken over the summer in Mexico.