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A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder has been added to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted Fugitives list, with U.S. authorities offering a reward of $10 million if he’s apprehended.
Ryan James Wedding, 43, is an alleged drug kingpin wanted in the United States on suspicions of running a transnational drug-trafficking network that, authorities allege, ships cocaine from Columbia, through Mexico and into the United States and Canada.
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The FBI said Wedding is also believed to have ordered multiple murders in order to protect his network.
“Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of U.S. cities and in his native Canada,” said Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office. “The alleged murders of his competitors make Wedding a very dangerous man.”
Wedding, who stands more that six feet tall, has 18 known nicknames, including, “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy.”
Another Canadian, Andrew Clark, 34, of Toronto, known as “The Dictator,” allegedly helped Wedding run the drug syndicate from Mexico. Authorities allege Wedding is under the protection of the notorious Sinaloa Cartel, once led by El Chapo Guzman.
Clark was arrested in Mexico last October and was extradited to the United States last week.
Wedding remains at large.
Canadian police say Wedding’s organization can be linked to shootings and murders in Ontario, including three residential shootings in Brampton, a homicide in Mississauga, and a double homicide in the town of Caledon. Several were victims of mistaken identity, police said last year.
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In an attack on Nov. 20, 2023, Jagtar Sidhu, 57, and his wife, Harbhajan Sidhu, 57, were shot dead in their home in Caledon, Ont. Their daughter survived after she was shot 13 times. U.S. court documents allege the attack was ordered by Wedding and Clark in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment — but they messed it up and shot innocent people.
Wedding and Clark are also accused of ordering the murder of another victim, 39-year-old Mohammed Zafar, who was shot while seated in his car in a driveway of a home in Brampton on May 18, over a drug debt, U.S. authorities said.
Clark, along with Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, of Toronto, are charged with the April 1 murder of another victim, 29-year-old Randy Fader, who was shot execution style in Niagara Falls, authorities said. Cunningham, also known by the nickname “MrPerfect,” was arrested last October in Toronto.
Born in Thunder Bay, Ont., Wedding moved to Coquitlam, B.C., and then Montreal, and competed in the Salt Lake City Olympic Games in 2002. He finished 24th in the Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom.
National Post, with additional reporting by Adrian Humphreys
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