Transnational Organized Crime

Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding — accused by U.S. authorities of running a cocaine‑trafficking ring and orchestrating the killing of a witness in Medellín — surrendered to U.S. officials at the American embassy in Mexico, was taken into custody Thursday and flown to California, where FBI agents escorted him in handcuffs off a plane at Ontario International Airport. The FBI, which added him to its Ten Most Wanted list with a reported $15 million reward, says Wedding is an “extremely violent” suspect believed responsible for multiple murders abroad and that he allegedly used a Canadian website to help identify the Medellín target.

France’s navy intercepted a Togo‑flagged fishing vessel in the South Pacific on Jan. 16 and seized 4.87 tons of cocaine believed to be headed for the Australian market, the French High Commission in French Polynesia said Monday. The ship, reportedly coming from Central America, was boarded after French forces deployed a helicopter and other 'significant human and material resources' in what officials called a record haul for the region. The 11 crew members — 10 Hondurans and one Ecuadoran — will not be prosecuted by France, though their home countries may pursue charges. Authorities framed the bust as an early success of a new territorial anti‑narcotics plan and as evidence of deepening regional cooperation with partners including the United States and Australia against Pacific drug‑trafficking routes that U.N. agencies say are expanding. Recent seizures off West Africa, the Atlantic and Australia show fishing boats are increasingly being used as global cocaine carriers, a trend Western navies and coast guards are trying to disrupt.