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3rd April 2025
02:02pm BST
Canadian snowboarder Ryan Wedding has been added to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
The 43-year-old represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics but now finds himself embroiled in a murderous drug cartel.
The former athlete, thought to be residing in Mexico, is accused of running a billion-dollar drug smuggling operation and now murder.
Four of his associates appeared in a Toronto courtroom last month and face extradition across the border.
He has been on the run for around a decade but just last month, a key witness was gunned down in Colombia.
He was then added to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.
The authorities released a new image of Wedding and announced that the reward for information leading to his capture is now $10million.
Last September, Wedding was one of 16 people charged as part of Operation Giant Slalom for 'allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation', according to the indictment.
They are accused of 'routinely shipping hundreds of kilograms of cocaine, from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada and other locations in the United States.'
Wedding and his supposed right-hand man, self-styled elevator mechanic Andrew Clark, are said to have 'orchestrated multiple murders' and 'shown a callous disregard for human life'.
They allegedly directed the murder of a couple from India in November 2023, in revenge for the theft of drugs.
Their daughter who was also shot 13 times but survived, said: "I heard my mother's last screams. After that, there was complete silence. Only the noises of gunshots."
However, investigators believe it was a case of mistaken identity.
Last April, prosecutors claim, they were behind another murder. Clark is accused of sending a list of names to a hitman nicknamed 'Mr Perfect'.
The gunman was said to be offered $100,000, plus 'expenses' to kill 29-year-old Randy Fader.
Wedding has been charged with eight felonies including three counts of murder and one count of attempting to commit murder.
The investigation into Wedding has involved cops in Los Angeles, Toronto, Detroit, Buffalo, Mexico, Colombia and Interpol. They have seized nearly two tons of cocaine - worth up to $25.2million - as well as multiple firearms, $255,000 and more than $3.2m in cryptocurrency.
Clark, his right-hand man, is in police custody along with 12 others of the 16 targets in Operation Giant Slalom.
