ONTARIO, California: Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, who was accused of moving 60 tons of cocaine and was responsible for several killings in four countries, surrendered and was flown to California after being arrested by the FBI in Mexico City.

Wedding, 44, turned himself in this week at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. FBI Director Kash Patel said his arrest followed investigations by law enforcement officials from the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic for more than a year.

Officials say Wedding moved cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada, and Southern California. They believe he worked with the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico's strongest drug groups. He used several fake names, including "El Jefe," "Public Enemy," and "James Conrad Kin."

At a news conference in California, Patel called him "the modern-day El Chapo," comparing him to the famous cartel leader Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, who is now in prison in the U.S.

Wedding was convicted in the U.S. before for helping sell cocaine and was sent to prison in 2010. Now he is charged with running an international drug network and with being responsible for the deaths of a federal witness and three other people.

U.S. officials believe the former Olympic athlete had been hiding in Mexico for more than 10 years before he was caught. He competed for his country in one event at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Wedding was added to the FBI's Most Wanted list last March, and a US$15 million reward was offered for information leading to his arrest.

Patel said catching someone like Wedding requires countries working together. He did not share details of the arrest but thanked Mexico and other international partners.

Mexico's security chief said on social media that a Canadian man had turned himself in at the U.S. embassy. Later, a Mexican security official confirmed that the man was Wedding.

Officials said 36 others have been arrested in this case. Police also seized large amounts of drugs, guns, cash, and expensive items like cars, motorcycles, artwork, and jewelry.

Wedding was charged in the U.S. in 2024 with running a criminal organization, murder, drug trafficking, and other crimes.

Prosecutors say his group was worth about $1 billion and was the biggest supplier of cocaine to Canada. The group got cocaine from Colombia, worked with Mexican cartels, moved drugs by boats and planes to Mexico, then used trucks to bring them into the U.S. The drugs were stored in Southern California before being sent to Canada and other U.S. states.

He is accused of ordering the killing of two members of a Canadian family in 2023 after a drug shipment was stolen, and of ordering another killing in 2024 over unpaid drug money.

In another case last November, he was charged with arranging the killing of a witness in Colombia to stop the person from being sent to the U.S. to testify.

Authorities say Wedding and his partners used a Canadian website to post the witness's photo so he could be found. The witness was later followed to a restaurant in Medellín and shot in the head.