Ex-Olympic snowboarder accused of running deadly drug ring added to FBI's most wanted list
US authorities have issued a $10 million (€9.2m) reward for information leading to the arrest of Canadian ex-Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding.
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A Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of running a global drug trafficking ring and orchestrating multiple murders has been added to the FBI's most wanted list.
The US State Department is offering a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of 43-year-old Ryan Wedding in an operation dubbed "Giant Slalom", the FBI announced on Thursday.
Wedding — also known as "El Jefe", "Giant" and "Public Enemy" — is wanted for his role in a billion-dollar operation that trafficked Colombian cocaine from Mexico to the US and Canada, and for four murders linked to the sprawling drug network, US authorities said.
The FBI says Wedding may be living in Mexico, and that he should be considered armed and dangerous.
"Wedding went from shredding powder on the slopes at the Olympics to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of US 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 was charged by the US Department of Justice last June with murder and drug crimes.
Those charges were augmented in September in an indictment that alleged Wedding and others arranged the shipment of some 60 tonnes of cocaine a year using long-haul semi trucks to move the drugs between Colombia, Mexico, Southern California and Canada.
In October, the FBI said a dozen people had been arrested in connection with the case.
US authorities allege that the criminal network killed two members of a family in Canada in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment in a case of mistaken identity, as well as murdering two other people, according to officials and federal court filings.
"Wedding — a former Olympian — led a transnational criminal organization that murdered innocent people and put thousands of kilograms of narcotics on our streets," said Acting US Attorney Joseph T. McNally.
"The reward offered today will help bring this defendant to justice in the United States."
Wedding represented Canada in the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002, where he finished 24th in the parallel giant slalom event.
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