The international manhunt for former Canadian Olympian Ryan Wedding, now one of the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, has taken a significant new turn. In a major development, Canadian authorities have arrested another key associate, tightening the net around the alleged drug kingpin.
Key Accomplice Captured in Vancouver
On Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detained Rasheed Pascua Hossain, a 32-year-old man from Vancouver. Hossain, who also operated under the alias 'JP Morgan', now faces a series of serious charges in the United States. These include conspiracy to distribute cocaine, conspiracy to export the drug, and conspiracy to launder monetary instruments.
According to the criminal indictment, Hossain played a crucial financial role in the alleged criminal enterprise. He is accused of having 'managed and laundered the Wedding Criminal Enterprise’s drug proceeds,' funnelling the profits from a vast smuggling operation. An arrest warrant was issued for him last month, and his capture marks a critical blow to the organisation's infrastructure.
The Billion-Dollar Empire and Grisly Murder Allegations
At the centre of this sprawling case is Ryan Wedding, a snowboarder who represented Canada at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He is now accused of leading a billion-dollar drug-smuggling operation and is wanted for orchestrating several murders. The FBI has been pursuing him since October 2024, and his notoriety was cemented in March when he was added to the list of Ten Most Wanted Fugitives, with a $15 million reward offered for information leading to his arrest.
The case took a particularly dark turn with the murder of Jonathan Acebedo-Garcia in January 2025. The 42-year-old drug trafficker was shot dead in broad daylight in the Colombian city of Medellin. Prosecutors allege he was a key FBI witness and that his killing was an act of revenge. In a chilling act of bravado, Wedding is accused of sending a picture of Acebedo-Garcia's body 'to numerous individuals, bragging that he had killed the "rat."'
A Tightening Net and a New Informant
The arrest of Hossain is part of a coordinated crackdown, with nearly a dozen people detained just last week. The FBI's investigation has been compared by Director Kash Patel to the pursuit of the infamous Pablo Escobar.
A significant breakthrough has come with the cooperation of a new informant. Court documents reveal this individual had 'trafficked drugs with Wedding and assisted Wedding with committing multiple murders.' This informant has reportedly agreed to assist U.S. authorities, specifically regarding the Acebedo-Garcia murder, and has met with detectives 'multiple times' over the past nine months. The source also claims that in late 2024, Wedding contacted them directly in an attempt to uncover the FBI's initial informant.
While Ryan Wedding remains at large, the arrest of his alleged money manager and the flip of a key insider signal that the walls are closing in on the former Olympian, whose life has taken a dramatic and violent turn from the snowy slopes of international competition to the top of the FBI's most wanted list.
