FBI Director Kash Patel described Canadian former snowboarder Ryan Wedding as a ‘modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar’.The United States State Department has raised its reward for information leading to the arrest of a former Olympic snowboarder turned alleged drug kingpin, as Canadian authorities announced seven people linked to the fugitive have been arrested.Speaking at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday, FBI Director Kash Patel described Ryan Wedding as a “modern-day iteration of Pablo Escobar” – referring to the notorious Colombian drug lord who died in 1993.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of listThe 44-year-old, who is on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, is believed to be hiding out in Mexico. Patel said the reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest now stands at $15m, rising from $10m.“[Wedding] is responsible for engineering a narco-trafficking and narco-terrorism programme that we have not seen in a long time,” Patel said.Wedding, who was indicted in 2024 for conspiracy to distribute and possess cocaine, conspiracy to export cocaine and conspiracy to commit murder, is “extremely dangerous”, said FBI agent Akil Davis.Davis added that Wedding, who represented Canada in snowboarding at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, finishing 24th in the parallel giant slalom, is “extremely violent” and “extremely wealthy”.At Wednesday’s news conference, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Wedding is Canada’s largest cocaine distributor and is behind the trafficking of $1bn worth of drugs each year.Bondi said Wedding works closely w …
