Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding wanted by FBI for alleged involvement in drug cartel, homicides

A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder is accused of main a Canada-based, worldwide drug-trafficking ring and ordering a number of killings – which resulted within the deaths of a pair in Ontario in a case of mistaken identification, U.S. and Canadian authorities allege.

Police recognized Ryan Wedding ceremony, a 43-year-old former resident of British Columbia, because the suspected chief of a corporation that shipped tonnes of cocaine throughout the continent. The Federal Bureau of Investigation introduced homicide and trafficking fees in opposition to him in Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, together with the Ontario Provincial Police and RCMP.

“An Olympic athlete-turned-drug lord is now charged with main a transnational organized crime group that engaged in cocaine trafficking and homicide, together with of harmless civilians,” stated U.S. Legal professional Martin Estrada of California’s Central District.

Mr. Wedding ceremony, who competed for Canada on the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake Metropolis, is amongst 16 suspects charged within the scheme. He’s not in custody however eight Canadian suspects have been taken into custody this month to face fees of appearing as his accomplices.

Prosecutors in California say the group moved Colombian-grown cocaine to Mexico, after which Los Angeles after which to Canada by way of a community of stash homes and semi-trucks. Mr. Wedding ceremony can also be accused of plotting murders.

His whereabouts are unknown however American authorities say he could also be dwelling in Mexico. Police in Canada have already been searching for to arrest Mr. Wedding ceremony for a decade.

In a press release, the RCMP stated Thursday its officers labored with the FBI for greater than a yr on the case and picked up “proof on quite a few homicides and conspiracies to commit homicide.”

“These are extremely severe fees in opposition to him and the quantity of effort that has gone into working it up is exceptional,” Liam Worth, the RCMP’s director-general of worldwide particular companies, stated in an interview.

U.S. prosecutors allege in a press release that Mr. Wedding ceremony deliberate the Nov. 20, 2023, contract killings in Ontario that have been allegedly supposed as retaliation for a stolen drug cargo that handed by way of Southern California.

Gunmen stormed a residential dwelling in Caledon, killing Jagtar Singh, 57, and his spouse Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, 55. They have been short-term guests to Canada who have been quickly planning to return to India.

“I need to stress that the household was fully harmless,” Ontario Provincial Police Deputy Commissioner Marty Kearns stated on the Los Angeles information convention. The household was “mistakenly focused,” he stated.

The couple’s 28-year-old daughter Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu was shot 13 instances within the assault. She survived and in February she advised a CBC reporter she is going to endlessly be traumatized by the horror of that day.

“My father was shot in entrance of me. I heard my mom’s final screams,” she stated. She described how she underwent 19 hours of surgical procedure for accidents from which she might by no means recuperate. “I’ve to study sitting, standing, strolling – it’s been very arduous.”

Police proceed to seek for the gunmen.

Mr. Wedding ceremony can also be accused of ordering a number of different shootings within the Better Toronto Space – together with an tried murder in Brampton.

Court docket data obtained by The Globe present that Mr. Wedding ceremony has repeatedly appeared in U.S. and Canadian courts accused of cocaine dealing. In 2008, he was sentenced close to San Diego to 4 years in jail.

In 2014 he was dwelling in Coquitlam, B.C., and declared chapter. In his filings, he said that he owed greater than $500,000 to the Canadian Income Company and that he had been unable to work “as a consequence of being in jail for a number of years.”

In 2015, whereas dwelling in Montreal, Mr. Wedding ceremony confronted renewed accusations of conspiracy to import cocaine – greater than 10,000 kilos of it, a judgment associated to the case says.

Based on the judgment, the alleged plan concerned transporting medicine from Colombia on fishing vessels to Newfoundland earlier than transferring the shipments onto vans destined for Montreal.

However Mr. Wedding ceremony disappeared from Canada. He “has been the topic of an arrest warrant because the fees have been laid in 2015,” stated Nathalie Houle, a spokesperson for federal prosecutors.

The RCMP issued a press release Thursday saying that eight Canadian accomplices of Mr. Wedding ceremony have been arrested this month – 4 in Ontario, three in the US, and one in Mexico. The plan is to place the suspects on trial within the U.S. No fees have been laid in Canada.

Mr. Wedding ceremony positioned twenty fourth within the males’s large parallel slalom in Salt Lake Metropolis. Based on his Olympics Canada profile, he was born in Thunder Bay.

Jérôme Sylvestre, who was additionally a part of Canada’s snowboard group in 2002, stated he was shocked to study concerning the accusations in opposition to Mr. Wedding ceremony. He described his former teammate as a competitor who was “nice to hang around with” throughout coaching camps.

However he stated they didn’t sustain after the Olympics.

With reviews from Stephanie Chambers