FBI focuses on central Mexico in hunt for Canadian ex-Olympian Ryan Wedding
Alleged cartel-linked crime boss is among FBI's most-wanted; investigators seeking tips from Mexico
U.S. investigators searching for Canadian Olympian-turned-fugitive Ryan Wedding have zeroed in on a region in central Mexico, CBC News has learned.
The FBI said it has launched a social media campaign seeking to elicit tips on Wedding's whereabouts from residents of the state of Mexico, which surrounds the capital, Mexico City, to the west, north and east.
"We believe that there are potentially people in that area who have information about his whereabouts," FBI spokesperson Laura Eimiller told CBC News.
She declined to say whether agents believe Wedding is hiding in the region. "I think it's self-explanatory why we have concentrated our efforts there," Eimiller said.
The FBI's announcement amounts to the first public acknowledgement that its agents are focusing efforts on a specific area in the search for Wedding.
The Thunder Bay, Ont.-born Wedding, who competed for Canada as a snowboarder at the 2002 Olympic Games, has been wanted by the RCMP for a decade. Authorities allege the 43-year-old leads a murderous criminal network that routinely ships tons of fentanyl and cocaine across North America.
Wedding was indicted last year by a grand jury in California on charges that include murder, leading a continuing criminal enterprise and conspiracy to export cocaine.
He was added this past March to the FBI's list of 10 most-wanted fugitives. The U.S. State Department is offering a reward of up to $10 million US for information leading to the Canadian's capture.
The FBI previously suggested that Wedding may be living in Mexico, under the protection of the notorious Sinaloa cartel, once led by drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán.
"Wedding, who is wealthy, is dangerous and has connections in very high places," Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles field office, previously said. "We know it will take a great deal of money ... for someone to turn this individual in."
Wedding seen in Mexico City in 2024
Wedding — who goes by multiple aliases, including Public Enemy, Giant and "El Jefe," or "The Boss" — has been spotted in the Mexican capital before.
Court records show that Wedding and his second-in-command, fellow Canadian Andrew Clark, met with a key FBI informant in a Starbucks in Mexico City in January 2024.
What's more, CBC's visual investigations unit has determined that a 2024 photo of Wedding wearing a blue L.A. Dodgers cap released by the FBI earlier this year was taken near a hotel in Mexico City's Sante Fe business district.
CBC's team used open-source information and maps to make the finding, with help from two independent researchers from the investigative journalism group Bellingcat's Discord community. The FBI previously declined to say where the photo had been taken.
The agency's new advertising campaign seeking tips on Wedding's whereabouts began about a month ago, Eimiller, the FBI spokesperson, said.
Facebook users in the state of Mexico are shown the FBI's "wanted" poster with Wedding's photo and description in Spanish, she said.
"We're obviously continuing to seek Mr. Wedding, and we're hoping to generate more leads," Eimiller said.
FBI, RCMP meet in Ottawa
The renewed efforts come as the FBI's Davis travelled to Ottawa on Wednesday to meet RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme.
The two discussed co-operation and "joint efforts in targeting transnational organized crime," the FBI said in a social media post.
An RCMP spokesperson did not immediately provide a comment on Thursday when asked whether the search for Wedding was discussed at the meeting.
The Mounties have previously said Wedding poses "one of the largest organized crime threats to Canada, even as a fugitive."
The RCMP first moved to arrest Wedding in 2015, when he was charged as part of a large-scale investigation into cocaine imports to Canada. Wedding, who was living in Montreal at the time, has evaded capture ever since.
Authorities have alleged that Wedding and Clark orchestrated at least four murders in Ontario, including the mistaken-identity shootings of a couple visiting from India.
Clark, known as "The Dictator," was arrested in Mexico last year and later transferred to U.S. custody. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and drug trafficking-related charges.
Last week, a Toronto-area man accused of serving as a drug courier for Wedding's transnational network agreed to be extradited to face charges in California.
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With files from Ivan Angelovski and the CBC News visual investigations unit