The FBI has charged two Canadians including a former Olympic snowboarder in connection with an alleged drug trafficking operation that shipped hundreds of kilograms of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico, the United States and Canada.
The U.S. Department of Justice says Ryan Wedding, who competed for Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and Andrew Clark are also responsible for allegedly directing the murders of four people in Ontario.
Mexican law enforcement officials arrested Clark on October 8 while Wedding is considered a fugitive.
Wedding, whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant,” and “Public Enemy,” is facing four felony drug charges as well as three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
Clark, who was known as “The Dictator,” is also charged with the same drug felonies as Wedding, plus an additional count of murder.
“The organization, led by former Olympian Ryan Wedding, cultivated a violent transnational drug trafficking empire that extended from Canada to the United States, Mexico, and Colombia. While key members of Wedding’s criminal enterprise were successfully apprehended this week, he remains at large. The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for any information leading to his arrest,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.
Wedding and Clark are among 16 defendants and 14 additional co-defendants who are alleged to have shipped bulk quantities of cocaine across North America through a Canada-based drug transportation network run by Hardeep Ratte, 45, and Gurpreet Singh, 30, both of Ontario using long-haul semi-trucks from approximately January 2024 to August 2024.
The indictment also alleges that Wedding and Clark directed the November 20, 2023, murders of two members of a family in Caledon, Ontario in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment that passed through Southern California. Another member of that family survived the shooting but was left with serious physical injuries.
Wedding and Clark allegedly also ordered the murder of another victim on May 18, 2024, over a drug debt but the indictment does not say where that crime took place.
Clark and Malik Damion Cunningham, 23, a Canadian resident, are also alleged to have murdered another victim on April 1, 2024, in Mississauga.
