Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding wanted by FBI for ...
Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, 43, is wanted by the FBI for his alleged involvement in a drug cartel. Wedding's photo was shown at a news conference at FBI offices in Los Angeles on Oct. 17.Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press
Police say a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder is a leading suspect in an international cocaine cartel that shipped tonnes of drugs and committed three homicides within Ontario last year, including a couple who were killed in a case of mistaken identity.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation made the announcement in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, along with Canadian police commanders from the Ontario Provincial Police and RCMP.
Ryan Wedding, 43, has been identified as the lead suspect in the case, and U.S. prosecutors say he competed for Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He and 15 others have been charged.
“As alleged in the indictment, an Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with leading a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and murder, including of innocent civilians,” said United States Attorney Martin Estrada said in a statement.
Mr. Wedding remains at large. Of the others charged, many are Canadians. The authorities described their ring as “a Canada-based drug transportation network.”
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Canadian and U.S. law enforcement officials say Ryan Wedding and 15 other people have been charged in a superseding indictment for allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation.Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press
Police said the group was violent and that it used stash houses and semi-trucks to run Colombian cocaine from Mexico to California to Ontario.
U.S. prosecutors alleged in the statement that Mr. Wedding “directed the Nov. 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Ontario, Canada, in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California.”
Police said the slain Ontario couple were not involved in any crime. Another Ontario man was murdered on April 1. Authorities further allege that Mr. Wedding ordered the murder of another man last May.
U.S. prosecutors said in a statement that Mr. Wedding is charged with various drug charges and “leading a continuing criminal enterprise.” He also stands accused of three counts of murder and one count of attempt to commit murder.
Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns spoke to reporters in Los Angeles.
He identified the mistaken-identity victims killed last November as a couple residing in Ontario’s Caledon municipality – Jagtar Singh, 57, and his wife Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55. Their adult daughter, who was also shot, survived.
“I want to stress that the family was completely innocent,” OPP Deputy Commissioner Kearns said. He said the family was “mistakenly targeted and were not involved in the alleged trafficking organization.”
Police also said the criminal organization was responsible for several shootings in neighbouring Peel Region, including a homicide.
