Federal authorities have arrested 10 people and charged 21 individuals — including a former Olympic snowboarder now on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list — in a sweeping indictment alleging an international narcotics and murder-for-hire conspiracy tied to a January killing in Colombia.
The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, accuses Ryan James Wedding, 44, a Canadian national who once competed as an Olympic snowboarder, of running a violent, globe-spanning cocaine trafficking operation linked to the Sinaloa Cartel. Wedding, who has been a fugitive since 2024 and was added to the FBI’s Top 10 list in March, is accused of ordering the Jan. 31, 2025 murder of a federal witness in Medellín, Colombia.
Authorities have increased the reward for information leading to Wedding’s capture to $15 million, calling him one of the most dangerous traffickers still at large.
“Operation Giant Slalom” Leads to Multiple Arrests
In coordinated arrests Tuesday across the United States, Canada, and Colombia, law enforcement detained 10 defendants, including a Canadian criminal defense lawyer, a reggaeton artist, and an online media entrepreneur accused of aiding the plot.
Those arrested include:
- Deepak Balwant Paradkar, 62, a Toronto-area criminal barrister accused of advising Wedding to kill the witness and supplying him with confidential court documents;
- Gursewak Singh Bal, 31, who co-founded an outlaw news website and allegedly posted a photo of the target to help locate him;
- Edwin Basora-Hernandez, 31, a Montréal-based reggaeton musician who allegedly passed along the victim’s contact information;
- Multiple alleged associates in Canada, Colombia, and the U.S.
Authorities say Wedding placed a bounty on the witness and tasked associates with tracking him down. The victim, who had cooperated in a prior federal drug case against Wedding, was shot dead inside a Medellín restaurant.
Expanding Criminal Case
The new charges build on a 2024 federal indictment that accused Wedding of operating a “continuing criminal enterprise” responsible for importing tons of cocaine from Colombia through Mexico into U.S. cities each year. That indictment also tied him to the November 2023 killings of two family members in Ontario, allegedly in retaliation for a stolen drug shipment.
Wedding remains at large. Three other defendants — Rasheed Pascua Hossain, Bianca Canastillo-Madrid, and Tommy Demorizi — are also fugitives.
Attorney General Pamela Bondi called Wedding “one of the most prolific and violent drug traffickers in the world,” vowing to dismantle his network.
FBI Director Kash Patel said Wedding’s organization relied on violence, including murder, to safeguard its cocaine pipeline. “This is a clear signal that the FBI will use every resource to bring him to justice,” Patel said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli described the witness killing as a “cold-blooded act,” adding that if convicted, Wedding “will never see the outside of a prison ever again.”
International Law Enforcement Effort
The investigation — spanning the U.S., Canada, and Colombia — is part of Operation Giant Slalom, which authorities describe as a multi-agency push to dismantle Wedding’s organization and cut off its financial networks.
Concurrent with the arrests, U.S. authorities took immigration action against several associates, including Latin pop artist Samantha Melissa Granda-Gastelu, whose husband is separately charged in an unrelated murder conspiracy.
If convicted of the murder-related charges, Wedding and several co-defendants face mandatory life sentences.
Federal officials emphasized that the indictment contains allegations, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court.
