Canadian Ex-Olympian Ties Severed: 7 Arrested, $15M Bounty on Fugitive Drug Lord
Image Source: Internet
A major blow has been dealt to a notorious Canadian drug trafficking operation linked to a former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged kingpin. Ryan Wedding, 44, is wanted by the US for drug and murder charges and is on the FBI's 'Ten Most Wanted Fugitives' list. The State Department has increased the reward for information leading to his arrest to $15 million, calling him a 'modern-day Pablo Escobar.' Seven people connected to Wedding's cocaine smuggling operation, including his lawyer Deepak Paradkar, were arrested in Canada on Tuesday. Paradkar allegedly told Wedding that killing a witness in a pending case would dismiss the charges. However, the witness was shot five times in the head and killed in January 2025 in Medellin, Colombia. Gursewak Singh Bal, founder of 'The Dirty News' website, was also arrested for allegedly posting a photograph of the slain witness to aid in their killing. The coordinated law enforcement action, dubbed 'Operation Giant Slalom,' was a joint effort between US and Canadian officials. Wedding, who competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, is accused of shipping hundreds of millions of dollars of cocaine through Mexico to the US and Canada. He is being protected by the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and is considered 'extremely dangerous' and 'violent' by FBI agent Akil Davis. In addition to the seven Canadians arrested, three other individuals linked to the January 2025 murder of the witness in Colombia were taken into custody.
