The FBI has released a new photograph of Ryan Wedding — a former Canadian Olympic snowboarder who investigators allege became the head of a large-scale global drug network — as authorities continue an international search for him.The photo, believed to have been taken in Mexico last summer, shows Wedding shirtless in bed with a lion tattoo visible on his chest. The image was distributed Tuesday by the FBI alongside the U.S. Embassy in Mexico as part of an escalating effort to locate him.The agency also announced it is increasing the reward for information leading to Wedding’s arrest to US$15 million, the highest bounty currently listed among the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives..Wedding is accused of leading a cocaine trafficking operation with ties to the Sinaloa Cartel and is wanted in connection with multiple alleged violent crimes. U.S. officials say he is suspected of ordering killings as part of the organization’s activities, including a mistaken-identity double homicide.Authorities further allege Wedding directed the shooting of federal witness Jonathan Acebedo Garcia, who was killed inside a Medellín, Colombia restaurant on January 31, prior to providing testimony against him.Wedding, who competed as a snowboarder for Canada in the early 2000s, has been tied to several large drug seizures throughout the Los Angeles area this year, according to U.S. law enforcement.Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to contact the FBI.
