It appears Olympic snowboarder turned narco-trafficking accused Ryan James Wedding still needs the speed.
Dozens of expensive high-powered motorcycles believed to be owned by a 44-year-old Canadian fugitive – and worth an estimated $40 million – were seized by Mexican authorities this month. The FBI’s Los Angeles office reported monday.
The FBI, which said the seizure was part of a joint operation that also included the LAPD and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, released photos of the seized motorcycles but did not say where they were found.
but last week Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Civil Protection revealed In addition to the motorcycles, they seized two vehicles, artifacts, two Olympic medals, drugs and other items at four locations in Mexico City.
It was not immediately clear whose medals the Mexicans received.
Wedding represented Canada in 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah But could not win any medal. He finished 24th in the men’s giant parallel slalom.
marriage, who’s on FBI’s list of ten most wanted fugitives Allegedly running an international drug gang, he is believed to be hiding in Mexico and under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel.
The U.S. Justice Department last month increased its reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest and conviction to $15 million.
FBI Director Kash Patel has compared Wedding to notorious drug kingpins such as Pablo Escobar and Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Last year, Wedding was convicted in Los Angeles federal court on multiple drug-related charges. And in November, Wedding faced new allegations that he ordered the attack on a witness in the US government’s case against him and hired assassins to murder rival smugglers.
Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time that the Wedding organization was responsible for importing approximately 60 metric tons of cocaine into Los Angeles per year.
“He controls one of the most prolific and violent drug trafficking organizations in this world,” she said. “He is currently the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.”
Wedding began his career as a drug smuggler around 2008, when, according to federal prosecutors, he traveled to San Diego with two other men to buy cocaine.
Wedding, convicted of conspiracy to distribute cocaine, was released from prison in December 2011 and soon established himself as a major international illegal drug distributor, prosecutors said.
