By admin 
US authorities have announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who has become an international drug kingpin.
Wedding, also known as “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” is accused of running a billion-dollar drug trafficking operation and ordering multiple murders. The FBI has placed him among the top 10 most-wanted fugitives and believes he is hiding in Mexico under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.
“The increase in the reward should make it clear: there is nowhere safe for Wedding to hide,” said LAPD Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.
From Olympian to Fugitive
The 43-year-old, originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, competed in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics for Team Canada, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom event.
However, by 2006, his name was linked to a marijuana-growing operation in British Columbia, though he was never charged. In 2010, he was convicted of drug trafficking after attempting to buy cocaine from a US government agent, receiving a four-year prison sentence.
Since then, Wedding has risen to power as a feared narcotics trafficker, running a vast cocaine and fentanyl operation between Colombia, Mexico, the US, and Canada.
Accusations of Murder and Drug Trafficking
The US Department of Justice has charged Wedding with overseeing the transport of hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and smuggling five metric tonnes of fentanyl per month into US and Canadian cities.
Authorities say he and fellow Canadian Andrew Clark also hired hitmen to eliminate anyone they saw as a threat. One target, a man with alleged drug debts, was gunned down in his driveway. In another case, two innocent people were mistakenly killed in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.
In 2023, gunmen attacked a rental home in Caledon, Ontario, killing 57-year-old Jagtar Singh Sidhu and 55-year-old Harbhajan Kaur Sidhu, who had recently moved to Canada. Their daughter, Jaspreet Kaur Sidhu, was shot 13 times but survived.
Manhunt Continues
Of the 16 individuals wanted in connection with the case, only Wedding and one other suspect remain at large.
Clark was arrested in Mexico on October 8, 2024, and extradited to the US on February 27, 2025.
With the FBI offering a massive reward, authorities hope it won’t be long before Wedding is also brought to justice.
Gill Bikram Singh