Net tightens around Olympics star Wedding as accomplice is arrested

Net tightens around Olympics star Wedding as accomplice is arrested
Source: Daily Mail Online

The FBI's manhunt for Olympian-turned-alleged drug kingpin Ryan Wedding took another twist on Friday when another of his former accomplices was arrested.

The former snowboarder, who represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics, is accused of leading a billion-dollar drug-smuggling operation and orchestrating several murders.

He has been wanted by the FBI since October 2024 and, in March, he was added to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. There is a $15million reward for his arrest.

Wedding remains at large but on Friday Canadian police detained Rasheed Pascua Hossain, a 32-year-old man from Vancouver who also went by the alias 'JP Morgan'.

He faces US charges of conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine; conspiracy to export cocaine; and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.

According to the criminal indictment, Hossain 'managed and laundered the Wedding Criminal Enterprise's drug proceeds.' An arrest warrant was issued for Hossain last month and now he has been captured.

Earlier this year, Wedding was added to the FBI's list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives.

Canadian police detained Rasheed Pascua Hossain, a 32-year-old man from Vancouver.

Nearly a dozen people were arrested last week as the net tightens around Wedding, who was compared by FBI director Kash Patel to Pablo Escobar.

According to CBC, court documents show that the FBI now has the help of a new informant who had 'trafficked drugs with Wedding and assisted Wedding with committing multiple murders.'

The informant has 'agreed to assist U.S. authorities in the investigation of Wedding's organization, specifically in regard to the January 2025 murder [of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia].'

Acebedo-Garcia, 42, was murdered in broad daylight in the Colombian city of Medellin.

The drug trafficker was reportedly a key FBI witness in the case against Wedding and prosecutors said his killing was revenge for helping the authorities.

This new informant reportedly met with detectives 'multiple times' over the past nine months. Back in late 2024, it's said, Wedding contacted them in a bid to discover the FBI's initial source.

After Acebedo-Garcia was shot dead, Wedding is accused of sending a picture of his body 'to numerous individuals, bragging that he had killed the "rat."'