Wedding, 44, who was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, was arrested on January 22 in Mexico.
U.S. authorities, who had offered a $15 million reward for his capture, accuse him of leading a criminal organization from Mexico in alliance with the Sinaloa Cartel.
Last week, Patel and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the alleged Canadian drug trafficker had been arrested in Mexico by FBI agents in collaboration with Mexican authorities and had been extradited to the U.S. to face charges.
This version contradicted that of Mexico’s Secretary of Security, Omar García Harfuch, who stated in a message on Twitter that Wedding had surrendered at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City.
These contradictions surrounding the circumstances of Wedding’s arrest led Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum to publicly deny this week that U.S. agents had conducted an operation on Mexican soil and reiterate the version of events that the Canadian had surrendered at the U.S. embassy.
Mexican law prohibits foreign agents from physically participating in police operations on national territory.
Adding fuel to the fire, on Wednesday The Wall Street Journal published a report alleging that Wedding’s capture was carried out in a joint secret operation by the FBI and Mexican authorities, and that the contradictions between the accounts given by officials from both countries had strained bilateral relations.
Who is Ryan Wedding and what are the charges against him?
Ryan James Wedding is originally from Ontario, Canada.
From his teens, he practiced snowboarding in Canadian school and regional competitions, which led him to the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA.
He didn’t have a standout performance, finishing 24th in the giant slalom.
When he retired from competition, his life took an unexpected turn: “He went from skiing down the slopes at the Olympic Games to distributing powder cocaine on the streets of cities in the United States and Canada,” according to the FBI.
He was known by several aliases, such as “The Boss,” “Giant,” “Public Enemy,” “James Conrad King,” and “Jesse King.”
U.S. authorities accuse Wedding of leading a criminal organization with another Canadian, Andrew Clark, allegedly trafficking drugs and ordering murders in collusion with the Sinaloa Cartel, the organization designated by the U.S. as a “transnational terrorist” group.
According to U.S. authorities, both were hiding in Mexico, from where they had been running their criminal organization for over a decade.
The indictment filed in a Los Angeles federal court alleges that “Wedding, Clark, and others conspired to ship large quantities of cocaine, weighing hundreds of kilograms, from the United States to Canada through a Canadian-based drug trafficking network between approximately January and August 2024.”
“In addition to drug trafficking, Wedding’s organization is allegedly responsible for multiple murders since 2023,” the FBI stated.
Clark, who was Wedding’s second-in-command, was previously arrested and, according to various U.S. media outlets, agreed to cooperate with authorities.
The FBI director first announced Wedding’s arrest, stating that the Canadian was apprehended on the night of January 22 in Mexico.
“This operation is the result of tremendous cooperation and teamwork with the Mexican government!” wrote Patel on Twitter, thanking President Sheinbaum, Secretary of Security Omar García Harfuch, and Ambassador Johnson, among others.
He also mentioned the participation of the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (HRT), the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG), and U.S. government aviation.
“Our FBI HRT teams acted with precision, discipline, and complete professionalism alongside our Mexican partners to bring Ryan James Wedding back to face justice,” Patel wrote.
Shortly afterward, the Mexican government also confirmed Wedding’s arrest and transfer to the U.S. However, Secretary García Harfuch’s office asserted that the Canadian had “voluntarily” surrendered to U.S. authorities.
“The FBI Director departed today for the United States, taking with him (…) a Canadian citizen who voluntarily surrendered yesterday at the U.S. Embassy,” wrote García Harfuch in X.
Upon his return to the U.S., Patel made comments that raised serious questions about how Wedding’s arrest had been carried out.
Source: msn
