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A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who has been sought for nearly a decade in two drug smuggling cases at the Montreal courthouse is now alleged by the FBI to have “orchestrated multiple murders” while running a multinational drug trafficking operation.
The FBI announced Thursday that it is seeking Ryan James Wedding, 43, and “is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to (his) apprehension, arrest, and extradition.
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“Ryan James Wedding is wanted for allegedly running and participating in a transnational drug trafficking operation that routinely shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia, through Mexico and Southern California, to Canada, and other locations in the United States. Additionally, it is alleged that Wedding was involved in orchestrating multiple murders in furtherance of these drug crimes,” the FBI stated in a wanted poster that it posted online.
Wedding represented Canada in the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
On September 17, 2024, a federal arrest warrant was issued for Wedding in the United States District Court, Central District of California, Los Angeles, California.
He is charged with Conspiracy to Distribute and Possess with Intent to Distribute Controlled Substances; Conspiracy to Export Cocaine; Continuing Criminal Enterprise; Murder in Connection with a Continuing Criminal Enterprise and Drug Crime; and Attempt to Commit Murder in Connection with a Continuing Criminal Enterprise and Drug Crime.
The FBI also believes Wedding is living in Mexico.
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His whereabouts have been a mystery for years at the Montreal courthouse, where he was charged in two drug smuggling cases.
He was charged in 2015 as part of an RCMP investigation dubbed Operation Harrington that uncovered several plots to smuggle drugs into Canada, mostly through the use of undercover agents. The undercover agents found so-called dry-conspiracies where no drugs actually entered Canada.
In 2015, Wedding’s address was listed as a condo on Viger St., but he was nowhere to be found when several arrests were made in Operation Harrington. Over time the co-accused in the two drug smuggling conspiracy cases Wedding was charged in saw their cases dealt with, including a case against Philipos Kollaros, 38, who was shot on Nov. 6, 2018, inside a restaurant on Beaubien St. E. near the corner of Casgrain Ave. He died the following day.
The homicide was carried out just months after Kollaros pleaded guilty at the Montreal courthouse to one of the cases filed against him in Operation Harrington. He admitted he was part of a conspiracy to smuggle $25 million worth of cocaine into Canada.
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