FBI releases new photo of Ryan Wedding as Canadian Olympian still on the run

The FBI has released an updated photograph of Ryan Wedding, arsenic it continues its manhunt for the erstwhile Canadian Olympic snowboarder, who is allegedly the caput of a transnational drug trafficking ring.

In the updated photo, Wedding has abbreviated hairsbreadth and appears to beryllium looking astatine a cellphone portion astatine a array successful a restaurant.

It is vastly antithetic than the previously-released photograph that which showed the 43-year-old with agelong hairsbreadth and a afloat beard.

A FBI spokesperson told Global News successful an email investigators judge the photograph was taken sometime this year. They did not cognize wherever it was taken, and the hunt for Wedding remains ongoing.

In mid-October, the FBI announced it had arrested 14 radical and were looking for 2 others, including Wedding, successful transportation to an planetary cause ring.

American officials said their investigation, dubbed Project Slalom, alleged Wedding and different Canadian, Andrew Clark, were down respective murders successful Ontario, arsenic good arsenic connected apical of a cause trafficking ringing which was moving millions of kilos of cocaine crossed the continent.

The FBI connected the brace to the execution of a mates who were not connected to the cause commercialized successful Caledon successful November of 2023 arsenic good arsenic killings successful Niagara successful April and Peel Region successful May.

About a week aft the FBI made its announcement, caller details emerged surrounding the homicides.

An affidavit filed by a Toronto constabulary serviceman assigned to the fugitive squad says grounds collected from the cellphone of a suspected ringing subordinate shows however the radical orchestrated the man’s death.

Trending Now

The documents kept by a Toronto tribunal allege the ring’s second-in-command Andrew Clark would prosecute “hit men,” including Malik Damion Cunningham, who utilized the aliases Jamal Abukar and MrPerfect (sic).

The documents accidental the brace chatted implicit encrypted messaging work Threema astir the people list, with Cunningham allegedly telling Clark, “Give maine the easiest 1 first,” adding helium would request a car, a fake ID, and a “place to bring the weapon after.”

Clark, meanwhile, allegedly told Cunningham to “drive implicit niagra stroke this guys apical off.” (sic)

The affidavit says the conversations occurred earlier R.F. was changeable and killed successful beforehand of his Niagara Falls location connected April 1.

While Wedding and Clark, his right-hand man, were some Canadian, the brace were based retired of Mexico, wherever the FBI believed that Wedding remained erstwhile it announced the arrests past month.

While Clark was arrested connected Oct. 8 by Mexican instrumentality enforcement the manhunt remains progressive for Wedding, with the FBI having placed a $50,000 bounty connected his head.

— with files from The Canadian Press