The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has arrested a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who allegedly became a drug kingpin in Mexico.
The agency announced on Friday that 44-year-old Ryan Wedding had been picked up in Mexico City and brought to the US on charges of cocaine trafficking and murder.
“He is a modern-day El Chapo. He is a modern-day Pablo Escobar,” FBI head Kash Patel said during a news conference, referencing Mexican cartel leader Joaquin Guzman and Colombian cartel leader Escobar, respectively.
Patel added that Wedding had alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, under whose protection he was believed to be living in Mexico. He had been hiding in the country for more than a decade, with the FBI offering a $15m reward leading to his arrest.
All told, Wedding controlled an operation responsible for generating more than $1bn a year in illegal drug proceeds, according to the FBI.
“This individual and his organisation in the Sinaloa Cartel poured narcotics into the streets of North America and killed too many of our youth and corrupted too many of our citizens,” he said, without providing further details on how Wedding was captured.
Akil Davis, the assistant director of the FBI’s Los Angeles field office, told reporters that Wedding – whose aliases include “El Jefe,” “Giant” and “Public Enemy” – was expected to have an initial US court appearance on Monday.
Davis said 36 people connected to Wedding’s alleged drug trafficking ring have been arrested, and assets worth tens of millions of dollars have been seized, including luxury vehicles, valuable artwork and jewellery.
Beyond the trafficking charges, authorities also accused Wedding, who competed for Canada in the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in parallel giant slalom, of hiring assassins to target individuals he perceived as rivals or law enforcement “coordinators”.
In charges filed last year, prosecutors accused Wedding of taking part in the killing of a witness set to testify against him. According to prosecutors, the witness was fatally shot five times after Wedding put a $5m bounty on his head.
Prosecutors have also accused Wedding of ordering the killing of a driver accused of stealing cocaine. As a result, a married couple visiting Ontario were fatally shot, in an apparent case of mistaken identity.
The arrest comes as Mexico has stepped up extraditions of accused cartel members to the US, in what some have seen as an effort to ward off the Trump administration from conducting military actions in the country.
The Trump administration, which earlier this month abducted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, has threatened to conduct such operations with or without Mexico’s approval.