Seven Canadians with alleged connections to Ryan Wedding, a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who is now considered one of the world’s most dangerous fugitives, have been arrested. Wedding is linked to a significant drug-trafficking network that operates across the Americas and is currently on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. According to U.S. officials, Wedding is believed to be responsible for multiple murders abroad.

The 44-year-old Wedding, who represented Canada in the 2002 Winter Olympics, faces serious charges including overseeing a criminal enterprise marked by witness intimidation, including murder, and profiting through money laundering from drug trade proceeds.

U.S. officials allege that Wedding orchestrated the assassination of a witness in a federal narcotics case against him, resulting in the witness being shot dead in a restaurant in Medellin in January 2025. In total, ten people have been arrested in connection with Wedding’s operations, seven of whom are Canadians:

• Deepak Balwant Paradkar, 62, of Thornhill, Ontario;
• Atna Ohna, 40, of Laval, Québec;
• Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, of Mississauga, Ontario;
• Allistair Chapman, 33, of Calgary, Alberta;
• Ahmad Nabil Zitoun, 35, of Edmonton, Alberta;
• Edwin Basora-Hernandez, 31, of Montréal;
• Rolan Sokolovski, 37, of Toronto.

Deepak Balwant Paradkar, a prominent lawyer in the Greater Toronto Area, faces accusations of facilitating drug trafficking and engaging in bribery and murder, per U.S. authorities. He allegedly counseled Wedding to murder the witness connected to the 2024 federal case to prevent his extradition from Mexico to the U.S.

Moreover, authorities have accused a Toronto business, identified as a jewelry store named “Diamond Tsar,” of functioning as a money laundering front for Wedding. They claim he continues to manage his criminal enterprise from Mexico, supposedly under the protection of the Sinaloa cartel.

U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi stated at a recent news conference that Wedding controls one of the most violent drug-trafficking organizations globally, asserting that he is the largest distributor of cocaine in Canada.

In conjunction with these developments, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced new sanctions against Wedding and nine associates involved in his criminal activities. These sanctions will freeze any U.S.-based assets belonging to them and prohibit Americans from engaging in business with those individuals and companies.

Additionally, the U.S. State Department has increased the reward for information leading to Wedding's capture from $10 million to $15 million.

Drug Routes, Cryptocurrency, and Murder

Investigators assert that Wedding trafficked multi-ton shipments of cocaine through Colombia and Mexico, which were subsequently distributed throughout the U.S. and Canada. Officials also allege that he utilized cryptocurrency to transfer millions in drug proceeds while orchestrating murders across North and South America.

FBI Director Kash Patel emphasized the gravity of the situation, comparing Wedding to the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar. U.S. authorities have also identified a network of alleged associates believed to be aiding Wedding in his criminal endeavors:

• Edgar Aaron Vazquez Alvarado, nicknamed “the General,” is accused of providing protection in Mexico and leveraging law enforcement contacts to identify targets, managing three Mexican companies currently under sanctions.
• Miryam Andrea Castillo Moreno, Wedding’s wife, is implicated in laundering drug money.
• Carmen Yelinet Valoyes Florez, a Colombian national running a high-end prostitution ring in Mexico, is accused of aiding in the murder of an FBI witness this year.
• Daniela Alejandra Acuna Macias, Wedding’s Colombian girlfriend, allegedly assisted in intelligence operations against his rivals.