Former Canadian Olympian charged in major US cocaine-smuggling case

Snowboarder Ryan Wedding and 15 others are accused of shipping 60 tonnes of cocaine a twelvemonth to the US and Canada.

United States prosecutors successful Los Angeles, California, person charged a erstwhile Olympic snowboarder with allegedly moving a ample and convulsive cocaine smuggling cognition retired of Mexico.

On Thursday, the Department of Justice unveiled a 52-page indictment accusing the 43-year-old Canadian athlete, Ryan James Wedding, and 15 different people, of shipping 60 tonnes of cocaine a twelvemonth from Colombia to Canada and the US utilizing long-haul semi-trucks.

The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for accusation starring to the apprehension and extradition of Wedding, who is considered a fugitive and uses the aliases El Jefe, Giant and Public Enemy.

Agents besides raided a $5m luxury mansion adjacent Miami successful South Florida and arrested its owner, 36-year-old euphony enforcement and edifice proprietor Nahim Jorge Bonilla, who was besides named successful the indictment, The Miami Herald reported.

Bonilla allegedly received 12 kilogrammes (about 44lbs) of cocaine from Wedding and his co-defendant Andrew Clark to distribute. According to the indictment, Bonilla was successful indebtedness to Clark and Wedding, and the 2 men threatened to termination Bonilla’s parent if helium did not repay what was owed.

At a quality league connected October 17, prosecutors displayed bricks of cocaine and different grounds of an alleged drug-trafficking operation, helmed by snowboarder Ryan Wedding [Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo]

Wedding, who competed successful the 2002 Winter Olympics successful Salt Lake City, besides faces charges successful Canada successful a abstracted cause case. He was antecedently convicted successful the US of conspiracy to administer cocaine and was sentenced to situation successful 2010, national records show.

US authorities judge that, aft Wedding’s release, helium resumed cause trafficking for the notorious Sinaloa Cartel successful Mexico.

“He chose to go a large cause trafficker, and helium chose to go a killer,” Martin Estrada, the US lawyer successful Los Angeles, told reporters connected Thursday.

Authorities besides explained that they seized cocaine, weapons, ammunition, currency and much than $3m successful cryptocurrency successful transportation to their investigation.

“Wedding, the Olympian snowboarder, went from navigating slopes to contouring a beingness of incessant crimes,” said Matthew Allen, the peculiar cause successful complaint of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) successful Los Angeles.

Of the 16 radical accused successful the cause trafficking conspiracy, 4 stay fugitives, Estrada said. A twelve others were arrested successful Florida, Michigan, Canada, Colombia and Mexico successful transportation with the case.

The transgression endeavor was besides allegedly liable for the murders of 2 members of an Indian household connected November 20, 2023, successful Ontario, Canada, who were killed successful retaliation for a stolen cause shipment.

At slightest 1 different idiosyncratic was besides killed by the group.

Wedding’s co-defendant Clark, 34, is besides a Canadian citizen. Known by the alias “The Dictator”, helium was arrested by Mexican authorities connected October 8, according to the Justice Department.

Source

:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies