Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder now facing serious allegations of cocaine trafficking, has been apprehended and is in custody, as confirmed by the FBI.

The arrest, which took place in Mexico on Thursday night, was first reported by NBC. Wedding, a 44-year-old Canadian, has been under FBI scrutiny for allegedly orchestrating a transnational drug operation that purportedly smuggles approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine into Southern California each year. This claim was previously made by Attorney General Pam Bondi.

The scale of Wedding’s alleged criminal activities has drawn comparisons to infamous drug lords Pablo Escobar and Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, according to statements by FBI Director Kash Patel. His involvement in the drug trade has led to serious charges, including eight felonies. Among these are three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, charges that date back to 2024.

Further compounding his legal troubles, a grand jury indictment was unsealed in November 2025, implicating Wedding in the murder of a federal witness. This witness, who was expected to testify against Wedding, was tragically killed at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia. Authorities allege that Wedding orchestrated the murder by placing a bounty on the witness’s head with the assistance of a Canadian website.

The fugitive was charged with eight felonies, including three counts of murder and one count of attempt to commit murder back in 2024. Then in November of 2025, a grand jury indictment against Wedding was unsealed, charging him with the death of a federal witness who was supposed to testify against the former snowboarder. That witness was shot and killed at a restaurant in Medellín, Colombia after Wedding ‘placed a bounty’ on his head with the help of a Canadian website, according to authorities. 

The FBI recently upped its reward for information on Wedding to $15 million after the snowboarder spent close to a decade on the run. It is unclear if that money will be awarded to anyone. 

Likewise, details about Wedding’s apprehension have not yet been revealed. A Friday morning news conference is scheduled for Patel, Bondi and members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to brief the public about the long-awaited arrest. 

Accused cocaine trafficker and former Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding has been arrested and is now in custody, two law enforcement officials told NBC News on Friday

Last month, federal authorities released a photo of a shirtless Wedding laying in his bed  

Wedding represented Canada during the Winter Olympics in 2002 but he did not win a medal

Patel took the opportunity to credit President Donald Trump for Wedding’s arrest.

‘Thanks to President Trump’s leadership and commitment to global law enforcement – as of this morning, the DOJ/FBI officially apprehended our SIXTH Top Ten Most Wanted Fugitive within the last year,’ Patel wrote on X. ‘Thank you to @AGPamBondi for her relentless pursuit of justice, the US Attorney’s Office in L.A., and FBI Los Angeles.’

The FBI’s pursuit of Wedding had been gathering momentum for some time.  

A month ago, the FBI released never-before-seen photos of a $40 million seizure of motorbikes believed to be owned by Wedding. Among the items seized were 62 motorbikes.

Alongside the images, a statement from the FBI read: ‘This month, Mexican authorities executed multiple search warrants and seized a large number of motorcycles with an estimated value of approximately $40 million USD believed to be owned by FBI’s Top Ten Fugitive Ryan James Wedding.

‘This successful seizure is a result of collaborative efforts among Mexican authorities, the FBI, @RCMP and @LAPDHQ.’

While not verified, speculation on social media claimed that some of the motorbikes have a famous history, potentially even being ridden by Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez in MotoGP.

Also in the recent haul, FBI agents found two vehicles, two Olympic medals, methamphetamine, marijuana, works of art, and ammunition.

It is not clear who the medals belong to, given Wedding finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom at his sole Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. 

The Canadian citizen believed to be living in Mexico was considered armed and dangerous 

The US Treasury Department recently claimed Wedding has built a ‘complex web’ of assets to hide his wealth, using luxury cars, motorcycles, properties, cryptocurrency and front businesses. 

In November, Patel said Wedding was responsible for ‘engineering a narco trafficking and narco terrorism program that we have not seen in a long time.’

Bondi said that the drug kingpin ‘controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in the world.’

The authorities have also said there was ‘some evidence’ Wedding had undergone cosmetic surgery to alter his appearance and further evade detection.

Earlier this month, the FBI added an alleged Wedding accomplice, Bianca Canastillo-Madrid, to its ‘Wanted’ list. She was subject of a federal arrest warrant after being charged with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to export cocaine and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. 

Wedding was wanted by the FBI with the organization offering $15 million for information  

Roughly 201 kilos of cocaine are seen after allegedly being confiscated from Wedding’s drug-trafficking operation. The seizure took place in 2025, prior to Wedding’s arrest this week 

A native of Thunder Bay, Ontario, Wedding became a competitive snowboarder as a teenager before going on to compete at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, where he finished 24th in the men’s parallel giant slalom.

Afterwards he got into bodybuilding, real estate speculation and allegedly began growing marijuana at a 6,800-plant warehouse that was later raided by the RCMP.

However, Wedding was not at the property at the time and evaded prosecution due to a lack of evidence.

He’s further accused of partnering with Iranian and Russian cocaine smugglers and in 2010, was convicted of trying to buy the drug from an undercover U.S. government agent. He was sentenced to four years in prison and released in 2011.

FBI director Kash Patel labeled the ex-Olympian a ‘modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar’ 

Wedding was charged as part of the US government’s Operation Giant Slalom in 2024 with leading an alleged cocaine trafficking cartel and murder.

Along with his alleged accomplice Andrew Clark, Wedding is alleged to have ordered the murders of married couple Jagtar Sidhu, 57, and Harbhajan Sidhu, 55, in November of 2023 as well as 39-year-old Mohammed Zafar in May of 2024 and a federal witness in Colombia in January of 2025. 

The Sidhus were believed to have been killed over a stolen shipment of drugs, although Ontario Provincial Police Detective-Inspector Brian McDermott said in 2024 the assassins ‘shot the wrong people.’

Their daughter, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, 28, was also shot 13 times in the attack, but survived.

‘My father was shot in front of me,’ she told CBS News in 2024. ‘I heard my mother’s last screams. After that, there was complete silence. Only the noises of gunshots.’