Anthony Colombo, lawyer for Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic athlete and alleged Canadian drug trafficker, told the press yesterday that his client was arrested, not surrendered, at the U.S. Embassy in Mexico.
“He was arrested, so any spin the Mexican government is putting on this, suggesting he surrendered, is inaccurate. I think if anyone is in a position to know how the arrest was carried out, it’s his lawyer. Therefore, those reports about what happened—that he surrendered—are completely incorrect,” the lawyer stated, according to CBC News Canada.
“I can understand it: look, the Trump administration, with the arrest (and kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás) Maduro, has made it clear that we are in a bold new era regarding international relations. I can understand why that statement would have been issued, because if the United States government unilaterally enters a sovereign country and captures someone, you can understand the concern that this might generate in that sovereign entity. But he was arrested,” he insisted.
The network also noted: “Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum used a fake image of Ryan Wedding on Monday as evidence that the alleged drug kingpin had surrendered voluntarily,” reported Thomas Daiglec of CBC.
“CBC News determined that the image was generated using artificial intelligence. It was posted on an Instagram account that supposedly belonged to Wedding’s representative,” he added.
The television network noted that “in statements to the press in Mexico City, with the image projected on a screen behind her, Sheinbaum quoted the Instagram post and stated that the fugitive surrendered of his own accord.”
Mexican security expert David Saucedo initially told CBC News that, based on his sources in the Mexican security sector, Wedding surrendered after days of contact with U.S. authorities. Saucedo stated yesterday afternoon that his sources stand by that version.
According to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Wedding is the leader of an international drug trafficking organization that smuggled tens of tons of cocaine into the United States and Canada each year from Colombia and through Mexico, where he was allied with the Sinaloa cartel.
At his initial court appearance yesterday, Wedding, 44, pleaded not guilty in the United States to two criminal indictments brought by federal grand juries in California in 2024 and 2025. He faces 17 charges, including cocaine trafficking, money laundering, and murder, according to US media reports.
In November 2025, US authorities increased the reward for information leading to the former athlete’s capture from $10 million to $15 million.
A review of his case is scheduled for February 11, and his trial is set to begin on March 24.
