Ryan Wedding, Canadian ex-Olympian charged in drug ring, arrested: AP sources
Written by The Canadian Press on January 23, 2026
Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who was on the FBI’s top fugitives list for allegedly running an international drug ring, has been arrested, sources tell the The Associated Press.
Two people familiar with the case who were not authorized to publicly discuss details told AP about the arrest and one of them said Wedding was apprehended in Mexico.
The arrest is expected to be announced later today at a news conference with FBI Director Kash Patel in California.
Wedding, who has been accused of running a transnational drug smuggling ring, is alleged to have ordered the murders of several people, including a witness who could testify against him in a 2024 narcotics case.
The yearslong hunt for the 44-year-old from Thunder Bay, Ont., intensified last year after U.S. officials placed Wedding on the FBI’s Top 10 most-wanted list and put up a $15-million reward for information leading to his capture.
Wedding competed for Canada as a snowboarder in the 2002 Winter Olympics. Canadian and American law enforcement officials allege that in the years that followed the Salt Lake City games, he became deeply involved in drug trafficking.
He was convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010. U.S. authorities have alleged that after Wedding’s release from prison, he resumed drug trafficking under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
U.S. court documents said Wedding’s drug trafficking enterprise brought cocaine from Colombia into Mexico, then used semitrailers to distribute the drug in the United States and Canada. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi accused Wedding of being the largest cocaine trafficker in Canada.
Eight Canadians were arrested in November as part of the ongoing investigation into Wedding, including an Ontario lawyer accused of advising the murder of a federal witness and a jeweller who U.S. authorities allege was the “de facto bank” for the criminal enterprise.
The RCMP have said that Wedding faces separate drug trafficking charges in Canada that date back to 2015.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 23, 2026.
— With files from The Associated Press.
The Canadian Press